


Warrior of the Wasteland

by fullmetalbri



Series: The Lone Wanderer Saga [1]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 3
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-28
Updated: 2016-05-04
Packaged: 2018-06-05 01:53:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 25,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6684520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fullmetalbri/pseuds/fullmetalbri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bri Lewandowski leaves Vault 101 to find her father, she leaves behind everything she knows just to look for him. Eventually, she meets up with two ex-raiders. Will they find her father and restore the wasteland?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Escape!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bri Lewandowski, the Lone Wanderer, leaves the vault in search for her father. this is her story on the way out of the vault.

As I’m standing here, getting my first glance at the Capital Wasteland, I can’t help but wonder what drove my dad to leave the vault. All of these thoughts crowding my head; Why did he leave? Why would he leave me behind? Was the Overseer always such a fucking nutcase?!

Well, let me take you back a couple hours, BEFORE my life got thrown into complete and utter chaos. I was sleeping off a few drinks from the night before when I was awakened by a frantic Amata. “Bri!” she yelled. “Bri, you HAVE to get up! Your dad left the vault...and oh my god..” I opened my eyes partially and looked up at Amata. 

“Amata, what the fuck? You know I was out drinking last night...this isn’t funny. We all know no one can open the vault.” I sighed. Slowly, but surely, I got out of bed and began putting my long, teal hair into a ponytail, like always. 

“Bri, I’m not joking. You need to get out of here!” Amata pleaded. “My...my father’s men...they…” I could see the pain in her eyes as she was struggling to speak. 

“Your father’s men what, Amata?” I said calmly as I began pulling my vault suit up around my hips. 

“My...my father’s men killed Jonas. Th-they thought he knew something about your dad...oh god…” My eyes widened as she broke the news to me. 

“What?! What do you mean Jonas is dead?! My dad actually left?!” I yelled, I guess I was hoping it was still a joke. But, Amata wouldn’t joke about something as serious as this. Swiftly, I pulled my vault suit up my arms and zipped it up, searching for a pack of cigarettes I kept in my pocket. 

“Yes...I-I’m afraid it’s true. Look, you don’t have a lot of time before my father sends his men after you too. I…” The frazzled Amata said while reaching for the 10mm pistol on her hip. “ I took this from his office...please...only use it if you have to. I’ll try to meet you at the entrance if I can.” I gave her a half-hearted smile as I took the pistol from her. 

“Amata, you know violence isn’t my style. I’ll see you there. Try to talk some sense into your psycho father, okay?” 

“I...I’ll try.”Amata said sheepishly as she left my quarters. 

_ Shit. I can’t believe this is real.  _ My thoughts were skewed. I had no idea what was going on, or more importantly why this was happening. But, no haste was made on my part. I quickly ran towards the door of my quarters after grabbing a few things I thought I would need out in the wasteland. You know, clothes, a baseball bat, Grognok the Barbarian comics. Quietly drawing out my new pistol, I opened up my door and exited, just to see Officer Kendall in the hallway. “You! We have orders to bring you in for questions!” The officer shouted at me. 

“Yeah? I have questions of my own; what the fuck is going on?! Will he kill me like he killed Jonas? Fuck that!” I shouted back, without thinking. Sometimes, I can be kind of stupid with my words. 

“If you’re not going to come peacefully…” He pulled out his nightstick, I really thought I was fucked. “Wait...what the...gahh get these things away from me!” Yes, saved by the radroaches. Luckily he beat two of the three to death before they killed him. That actually left me with a bit of a problem, the last time I fought a radroach, I was 10 and Dad was there...so I knew I wouldn’t get hurt. But, hell, it couldn’t be too difficult, right? I raised my weapon, pointed it steadily at the radroach, and shot it. The gun kicked a little bit, but I controlled it pretty well, I actually killed the damn radroach. As I was about to move on farther down the hall, I looked at the now deceased Officer Kendall. His armor was pretty cool...so was that nightstick, so I took them. Who wouldn’t have?

On my way farther down the hallway, I was stopped. By who? None other than Butch Goddamn DeLoria. I honestly figured he’d say some fucking stupid thing about my dad leaving the vault, but when he got closer, I saw it. The fear in his eyes, which I’ve never seen before. Now, to understand why I thought he was going to be a total dick, you kind of need to know Butch. Ever since I can remember, that boy has been nothing but trouble. At my tenth birthday party, he punched me for not giving him my sweet roll. Well...after I told him he was probably hungry because his mom probably spent all their ration coupons on booze. I mean, I kind of liked that whole bad boy thing he had going on as I got older, which clouded my judgement a bit on the day of the G.O.A.T. exam. Butch and his gang, the “Tunnel Snakes”, were harassing Amata before class...and well...instead of helping her, I told Butch how self conscious she was due to her weight. Basically, he was kind of a dickwad...but...I kind of liked it. Anyhow, there he was, in front of me, with genuine fear in his eyes. “Look, ya gotta help my ma, man. She’s trapped in there with the radroaches!” Butch blurted out. 

“Wait...you’re...asking me for help?” I asked, I was honestly confused as fuck. 

“Look, Bri, I’m sorry for the way I’ve always treated ya, okay? Ya know I never meant any of it, right? But it’s my ma in there. Ya can’t just leave her in there to die.” Butch actually pleaded with me, which was in a strange way made me happy. It’s like he actually noticed my existence. 

“Oh...Butch. If only you knew what ‘irony’ meant.” Shit that sounded too mean...wait, why would I care? “Where’s your mom? I’ll save her.”

“Follow me.” He said as he ran to his quarters, I followed close behind him. 

As we reached his quarters, I could hear his mom’s pleas for her “Butchie” to come save her, it was actually rather unsettling. “There, she’s in there!” He said, obviously panicked, pointing at the door to the next room.

“Butch, calm the fuck down. Your mom will be fine.” I said, annoyed, as I was opening up the door and getting out my baseball bat. The radroaches never once shifted their focus away from Ms. DeLoria, so it was fairly easy to take them out. Just one quick blow to each of them, and they were dead. Funny how easily I killed those radroaches...also funny how quickly Ellen went to drink her vodka after I saved her. I didn’t even get a fucking “thank you” from her. 

“Holy shit, Bri, ya did it! My ma’s gonna be okay!” Butch exclaimed as he hugged me tightly, which I have to admit...felt quite nice. 

“Butch...it was nothing. I really have to get going thou-” 

“Wait, I know ya have to go. But here…” Butch interrupted as he started taking his jacket off. “I want ya to have this...ya know, for saving my ma and stuff.” He calmly draped his Tunnel Snakes jacket over my shoulders which smelled of his cologne, a scent I could probably never get sick of. “I...I know it isn’t a lot, but it’s all I have right now. I just thought I should have some way to thank ya…” Butch said, with a smug grin on his face. “But hey...I never thought ya would look so good sporting my leather.” I could feel my face get hot, it was probably red as can be. 

“Uh... thanks Butch. I-I really have to go now though...it’s important.” I said, walking towards the door to the hallway. 

“Hey, pipsqueak, I’ll see ya around, okay?” He said, grinning, and wait. Was he looking at my butt?

Anyways, I left his quarters and walked towards the diner, after all, it was the easiest way upstairs. The diner had about three radroaches in it...and poor Grandma Taylor. I beat the radroaches with my bat, once again. I really think it’s the easiest way to kill them, plus it saves me ammo that I can’t really spare at the moment. I frantically tried to pry the door open, I knew I was short on time and that the Vault Security was looking for me. I kicked the door out of frustration, which obviously hurt. The door was made of fucking metal, so I yelled a stream of profanities at it for being jammed and hurting my foot. I sprinted as fast as I could down the hallway, almost tripping over myself a few times, hitting radroaches with my bat whenever I saw them. I sprinted up a flight of stairs where I saw Officer Gomez and Andy fighting off some radroaches. Andy is Vault 101’s personal Mister Handy Robotic butler, made by RobCo industries. I helped them out with the radroaches, simply because I had a feeling that Officer Gomez wouldn’t hurt me. He was always the kindest of the Vault Security officers, in my opinion. When all the radroaches were dead, Officer Gomez approached me, my bat still clenched tightly in my fists. “Bri, you need to get out of here...I would be in a lot of trouble if anyone saw me talking to you. The Overseer is...I don’t know what’s happening anymore.” He calmly said to me. 

“Thanks, Gomez. I always liked you.” I said, with a small smile on my face. “Thanks for letting me go...please, make sure things don’t get too out of hand here. Even though I have to leave and my dad’s gone, this is still my home, and there’s still people I care about here.” He simply nodded and replied 

“Be safe, Bri. You’re a good kid and didn’t deserve for this to happen. When you get out there, you go find your dad. Best of luck to you.” He said through a half-hearted smile. I started walking away, but then remembered Butch. 

“Gomez.” I said, not even turning around. “Can you please see to it that the DeLoria’s are alright? Ellen was attacked by the radroaches.” After I heard him say he would do that, I sprinted for the nearest door to the atrium.

As I entered the Atrium, I saw Tom and Mary Holden, talking about how to escape the vault, saying my dad had the right idea. “No, the guards will shoot you on sight.” I said to them, pointing over to the two guards with their guns drawn. “It’s safer just to stay here.” 

“How do we know they’ll shoot on sight? We have the right as human beings to leave if we want to! They can’t just force us to stay down here!” Tom angrily barked at me. 

“Oh yeah? You don’t believe me?” I sneered. “Watch this then.” I said as I started walking towards the middle of the atrium. Tom and Mary watched as I started running towards the vault entrance. I saw the guards raise their guns to me, and one of them shot at me! Those guys had terrible aim, lucky for me. This didn’t stop me from smacking one of the guards over the head as hard as I could with my bat, but I had a feeling a bat wouldn’t be good enough for these guys. Swiftly, I dropped my bat and pulled the pistol out of the holster on my hip, then pointed it at the officer I didn’t hit. 

“Please, I really don’t want to shoot you, just let me go and you can continue to live!” I pleaded with him. “Sorry, we have strict orders directly from the Overseer t-” I shot him before he could finish his sentence, and quickly put my gun away and grabbed my bat again. 

In no time, I was sprinting up the stairs behind the security door, which was jammed open by a locker. The two radroaches on the stairs were obviously no problem for me, but I could sense I was running low on time and had to hurry out of here before something bad happened. Why were these so many radroaches in the first place? Sprinting down the hallway, I saw Allen Mack, beating against his window when he saw me. “Hey, you! This is all your fault! Guards! She’s over here! Guards!” Allen was yelling as I was running by. I have to admit, I stopped, stood outside his window for a second, looked him dead in the eyes and flipped him off. Shit, I didn’t have time for this, I had to leave, so I took off sprinting again. 

I reached a maintenance area, where I saw the dead body of one of the maintenance workers, Floyd Lewis. A thought crossed my mind if he was one of the senseless deaths that the Overseer ordered, but I was interrupted mid-thought by Security Chief Hannon shooting at me. “What the fuck, Hannon?!” I shouted at him, his bullet whizzing past my left arm. 

“I’m sure you’ve heard by now, Lewandowski, we have orders to bring you in for questioning.” he said calmly, still pointing his gun at me. 

“Oh, what? Like Jonas? Fuck you.” I scoffed, putting my hand on my holstered pistol. “If you shoot at me again, it will be a huge mistake. Don’t make me kill you.” My voice was cold as I said this while looking him dead in the eyes. What did this guy fucking do? He shot at me, so I quickly ducked behind a generator and pulled out my pistol. I peeked around the corner of the generator and saw a clear shot to his head, so I took it. My marksmanship was spot-on, he didn’t suffer much and died almost instantly. I tiptoed around his body, after grabbing his remaining ammo, of course. Then I found myself outside of the security office, where I could hear Amata being interrogated about my whereabouts and beaten by Officer Mack. “I’m so sorry, Amata…” I whispered to myself as I crept slowly to the Overseer’s office.

Finally, I reached the Overseer’s quarters, but when I got in there, I saw something I would never forget. Jonas’s lifeless body was laying there, I looked at his body and felt tears running down my face. I saw him holding a holodisk, so I quickly threw it in my Pip-Boy and listened to it as I went to the Overseer’s terminal.

_ Hold on, Jonas. I need to record this first. _

It was my Dad’s voice. I suppose he cared enough to leave a message.

_ I don’t really know how to tell you this. I hope you’ll understand, but I know you might be angry. I thought about it for a long time, but in the end, I decided it was best for you not to know. So many things could have gone wrong, and there’s really no telling how the Overseer will react when he finds out. It’s best if he can blame everything on me. Obviously, you already know that I’m gone. It was something I needed to do. You’re an adult now. You’re ready to be on your own now. Maybe, someday things will change, and we can see each other again.I can’t tell you why I left or where I’m going. I don’t want you to follow me. God knows life in the vault isn’t perfect, but at least you’ll be safe. Just knowing that will be enough to keep me going. Goodbye. I love you. _

I was fighting back tears of sadness, anger, and frustration as I opened the Overseer’s tunnel. What the fuck was dad thinking? Jogging over to the secret tunnel, I think I finally lost it. How could my dad not know the Overseer would go absolutely bat-shit insane? I ran down the stairs and hit the button to close the hatch to the tunnel and stood there for a minute, with my forehead against the wall. Why did things have to be like this? Could I have gotten out without killing those security officers? I punched the wall as hard as I could and let out a frustrated scream. A couple seconds went by and I remembered that I’m kind of running for my life. Tears were streaming down my face as I opened the door to get to the vault entrance.

I didn’t even waste my time with the radroaches, I just ran as fast as I could to the end of the secret tunnel, mashing the button at the end repeatedly to open up the door.  When the door finally opened, I quickly made my way over to the door’s control panel. “Oh what the fuck. How do I even work this thing?! Fuck...is it... this big button…?” I said to myself as I hit the big button on the control panel, setting off an alarm. “Oh fuck.” 

“Bri! Bri, you made it!” I heard Amata exclaim as she saw me messing with the control panel. I sheepishly grinned and looked at the door. 

“Amata, I’m glad to see you’re okay...I would have helpe-” 

“Bri, it’s fine. I know my dad wouldn’t order anyone to kill me...but I couldn’t say the same for you. I’m just glad that you’re okay.” she sighed, examining my jacket. Our conversation was interrupted by the terrible screech of grinding metal as the vault door opened. Both Amata and I looked at the door and watched it open. “I can’t believe you actually did it. I...I’m going to miss you, Bri.” She sighed, looking at my eyes light up as we both got a glimpse of the outside world for the very first time. 

“Yeah...me either. I couldn’t have done it without you, Amata. Thank you.” I smiled half-heartedly at her and started walking towards the vault door. “I’m going to miss you...I can’t believe I won’t see you again…” I said, sadly, wiping the tears from my eyes. 

“Bri...be careful out there. Maybe we can meet again one day.” She said, walking towards the vault door control panel. I ran out of the door and didn’t look back as she was closing the door.

That’s how I got here, looking out over the Capital Wasteland, wondering where the fuck I go next. This is where my story begins. I’m Bri Lewandowski, the Vault Dweller. The Lone Wanderer from Vault 101. Just looking for answers as to why he left the vault...why he left ME.


	2. Following in His Footsteps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bri, out in the wasteland, heads to Megaton for clues about her missing father. She kills someone, and begins traveling with two ex-raiders.

Looking out from the scenic overlook near the vault, I saw what looked like a giant pile of scrap metal. Shit, there might be people there. It looks like it could be a town. No harm could come from checking it out, right? I could really use a cigarette on my walk over there, I guess. Grabbing the pack of cigarettes out of my pocket, I started walking along the broken road to that scrap metal. As I was walking along that broken road, lighting my cigarette, I couldn’t help but think of how I just left behind everything I’ve ever known. I mean, my whole life was in that vault, how was I supposed to live out here? I knew I’d somehow find a way, but it seemed incredibly difficult...especially looking around. Ruined houses. Broken roads. I guess the sky is at least pretty. I saw a sign pointing towards the hunk of scrap metal, I guess it’s a town called Megaton. Maybe my dad stopped there on his way to wherever the fuck he went.

I followed the dirt path, occasionally taking puffs from my cigarette, until a reached a protectron. “Welcome to Megaton” It buzzed. Those things freak me the fuck out, so I hurried past it as the scrap metal was raised up, revealing a gate, which I promptly entered. When I entered the gate, an African-American man in a cowboy hat and a leather duster walked up to me. “Well, I’ll be damned. Another newcomer. I’m the town sheriff, Lucas Simms.” he said excitedly to me. 

“Pleasure to meet you, sir. I’m Bri Lewandowski, I hail from Vault 101.” I stated. 

“Well, shit! You have manners too!” He chuckled. 

“Um…” I said, looking over his shoulder. “Is that...uh...bomb still active?” I asked uncomfortably. 

“That damn thing? Yeah, hell, Cromwell and his cult even worship it.” He replied. 

“Would you by any chance to be looking for someone to disarm it? It makes me...uneasy. I don’t trust it.” I said, without even thinking. 

“Well, sure, there would be some caps in it for you too if you do.” He said. 

“I’d be glad to help...free of charge…” I trailed off as I thought why I was here. “You said I was another newcomer...right?” 

“Well, yeah, a middle-aged man passed through here not too long ago.” He said, trying to remember what he looked like. 

“Was he wearing a Vault 101 suit too?” I asked excitedly.

”Well, yeah, I think he was. I have no idea where he went though. You’d have better luck asking Colin Moriarty, he’s usually in the saloon he owns, up by the Craterside Supply store.” He replied, with a small grin on his face. I think it was because he saw how my face lit up when he told me where I could find information on him. 

“Thank you so much, I need to check that out before I do anything. I’ll disarm the bomb after I talk to Colin. Thank you so much!” I said, my face beaming with excitement. He tipped his hat to me and walked off. 

I walked around the town, looking for Moriarty's Saloon, kind of taking everything in. This was new to me, and I think I could get acquainted to life out here if there’s little places like this everywhere. I was honestly half expecting everyone to be a bunch of dicks out here, but this exceeded my expectations. As I walked along the rusty metal path, a sense of peace came over me. I felt like everything would be okay, someone actually knew where my dad was. Suddenly, I stopped, looking around to see where I was. Turns out, I was right where I needed to be. In front of Moriarty’s Saloon. 

I entered the dingy little saloon and took a look around. There was a man in a dirty white suit, a fedora, and sunglasses waving to me, I mean, I didn’t even know the guy, what the fuck could he want? I walked over there briskly and sat down in the chair next to him. “Ah, just what I need. You don’t look like you’re from around here.” He said, eyeballing me. 

“Uhm...yeah. What would you need someone like me for?” I scoffed. 

“Well, you see, I work for a man who sees this town as a...blight...on an otherwise pleasant skyline from his balcony.” He explained. 

“Please, do go on...I must say I’m intrigued.” I said softly. 

“The man I work for is Allistair Tenpenny and he wishes for this town to be erased, ma’am. By simply blowing up that bomb in the center of town.” He grinned smugly as he was speaking. Gross. Although it made me miss Butch’s smug grin. 

“Look, sir, I don’t even know your name, how can I work with you?” I questioned.

“Ah, Burke. Mister Burke. And you are…?” He stated, eyeballing me again. Well, time to turn on that womanly charm of mine. 

“Look, Burke, you silly man. I’m Bri, and I live here. You certainly wouldn’t want to blow me up, would you?” I asked seductively. I can’t believe I’m acting like this to a total creep like him. 

“I...uh...of course not.” He struggled to speak, lowering his gaze to my breasts. “I have to admit, I’ve never been as smitten with another woman as I am with you. I...I don’t know what I’ll tell Tenpenny, but I’ll come up with something.” He said, now gazing into my big, beautiful brown eyes. “Wait for me here, my love. I’ll send for you soon to come live with me in Tenpenny Tower.” He said, I smiled a big smile at him. He walked away and my smile immediately disappeared. Ick, I need a stiff drink after that shit. 

I walked up to the bar, apprehensively. “Hey, you need something to drink?” A voice asked me from over the counter. I looked up at him, he honestly looked like a rotting corpse. 

“Let me think about that for a second, my good man.” I said to him, warmly. 

“What? You’re not going to give me shit or even berate me a little bit?” He asked, totally shocked. 

“No, I hadn’t planned on it.” I said, slightly confused. 

“Wow, it’s nice to see there’s still good people out there. I’m used to every asshole smoothskin in this town giving me shit just because I look like a corpse. Name’s Gob and...well...Moriarty would have my head if he caught me selling at a discounted price, but for you, I’d risk it.” He said happily. 

“Name’s Bri, Bri Lewandowski, pleasure to meet you, Gob. How much would a whiskey be?” I asked, happy to finally get a drink. 

“A whisky? 15 caps.” He stated. 

“Well fuck...I uh...don’t have any caps.” I said, looking down at the bar. “Hey, Gob, know of anywhere I can find some work?” I asked, frowning. 

“Well...I mostly just keep my head down to avoid being smacked around, so I wouldn’t know. Try talking to Moriarty, maybe he has something for you to do.” Gob replied. I smiled at him and thanked him, then I went outside for a cigarette. What? If I couldn’t have booze at least I could have one of those.

I leaned forward and rested my elbows on the cold, rusty railing and looked down. “That’d be quite the fall there, lass.” An Irish man said to me, walking up next to me, lighting a cigarette. 

“Oh...yeah.” I laughed and looked at him. He had medium length shaggy white hair and a shaggy white beard to match. 

“New in town, are ye?” He asked, looking in my direction. 

“Yeah…” I sighed. “Name’s Bri. Bri Lewandowski.” I held out my hand for a handshake, but he just looked at me, surprised. 

“Oh my god. It’s you! You were just a wee baby when I last saw ye. I remember it like it was yesterday, name’s Colin Moriarty.” He said, reminiscing on what seemed like better times. 

“Yeah, so does that mean you’ve seen my dad? He left me behind in that damn vault...and...it’s a long story.” I said, taking a drag from my cigarette. 

“Maybe I have. 100 caps and I’ll give ya all the information I have.” He stated. 

“What?” I shouted, and jolted up from my comfortably leaning position on the railing. “I don’t have any caps, Moriarty.” I said, with a tone of disappointment to my voice. 

“Well, I do have an errand for ye, I suppose.” He said, taking a drag from his cigarette. 

“Consider it done. I need to find my dad, it’s important to me. He’s all I have left now.” I resignated. 

“Ok, there’s this bitch named Silver, she took off with a bunch of caps of mine. Deal with her, and ye can keep the caps you make off of her. Ye should be able to find her in the only intact house in Springvale.” He said, flicking his cigarette over the railing and turning back to walk  into the saloon. 

After I saw him go back in the saloon, I started briskly walking towards the bomb in the center of town and began examining it. “Give your bodies to atom, my friends!” Some fucking nutcase was preaching next to the bomb. I glanced at him, with a look of “what the actual fuck is this shit”, and started examining the bomb. I could feel the radiation from it and knew I had to do something fast. “Release yourself to his power, feel his glow and be divided!” Would this shitlord shut the fuck up already? Really, he was annoying. I finally found a way to successfully disarm the bomb, and I did it. When I disarmed that fucking saftety hazard, I took some Rad-Away. I glanced back at the bomb and started walking towards the town’s gate, so I could go take care of Silver. 

“Well, damn! You did it!” Simms said, running up to me. 

“Oh, yeah.” I smiled at him. “I think you’ll all be able to sleep better, knowing that thing can’t go off.” 

“Well, look, I know you didn’t want any sort of payment, but I would love to have an upstanding citizen like you to have that empty house over there.” He said, handing me a key and pointing to a fairly large shack. 

“I….I don’t know what to say.” I said, taking the key. Simms reached his hand out, and I gladly shook that man’s hand. 

“Welcome home, Lewandowski.” He said happily. 

My face was beaming as I put the key to my new house in the pocket of Butch’s jacket, I knew I had to take care of Silver before anything else, though. I had to find out where my dad went. After i opened up the gate and got past that protectron, Deputy Weld, I ran to Springvale, looking for the only intact house.Finally, after about ten minutes, I spotted it. I decided to take my time and apprehend the situation first, I had no idea if she was the “shoot first, ask questions later” kind of girl, or what. Pressed against the wall, next to the front door, I had my gun drawn. Just in case. Slowly, I turned the doorknob and entered the little house. “Hey, what the hell do you want?” A woman with short, beautiful blonde hair shouted at me. 

“Oh...I’m here to collect some caps...Moriarty said you stole some and took off.” I sighed, putting my gun back in my holster. 

“I didn’t take anything from that asshole! He’s just pissed that I ran off!” She barked at me. 

“Look, ma’am, I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if you don’t just hand over the caps you stole.” I said, calmly, now putting my hand back on my holstered weapon. 

“Fuck you, I’m not giving you anything, you little bitch!” She yelled, drawing a .32 revolver, pointing it at me. Quickly, I drew my weapon and aimed it at her head. 

“Silver. I’m not fucking around. I’ll shoot you.” I said shakily. Suddenly I felt a bullet graze my leg. Looks like I had no choice now; this bitch had to die. I pulled the trigger of my 10mm pistol, and shot her in the neck. I guess that was pretty cool, despite the fact I was aiming for her heart.

As I saw the blood flow from here severed artery, I panicked. Quickly, I began searching for the caps anywhere I could think of. In her chem box, wardrobe, in a metal container on her counter, but I found nothing. Helping myself to her carton of cigarettes, a thought crossed my mind; what if she had the caps on her? I stared at her dead body, I went completely pale. Slowly, I sauntered over to her body and searched her pockets. Good news, I found the caps and some chems. Four-hundred fucking caps; all mine. Bad news, I never saw that much blood before. I walked over to the corner, towards the door. My knees gave out, I couldn’t stand, I went numb looking at her lifeless corpse. Thoughts kept crossing my head; How could I have done this? Couldn’t I have saved her? Why did I have to shoot her? As I was sitting in the corner of her kitchen, I felt my stomach twist in knots. Oh no. I could feel it, my dinner from last night. Right there, I puked all over her floor and promptly rushed away from her house. 

As I was walking back to Megaton, I looked at my leg. Shit. My vault suit was ripped and bloodied where the bullet grazed me. Looks like I have to get some new clothes somehow when I get back to Megaton. I made my way past Deputy Weld and entered the gates of Megaton. Looking towards my new house, I dug in Butch’s jacket pocket and got my key out. Keeping a decent pace, I walked towards my house, key in hand, excited to see the place that’s all mine. I paused when I reached the door, I knew I needed to find my dad. Maybe I could stop by when I was told where he went. My had slid back into the pocket of Butch’s jacket, dropping the key in there softly as I started walking towards the saloon. When I reached the saloon, I pulled out my cigarettes and lit one up, leaning against the outdoor wall of the saloon, slowly slumping down. Is this what life is out here? Killing people for cheap fuckers with Irish accents? If my dad would have seen that he would have…no. He would have known I did it to find him. He’d understand. I looked down at my cigarette, which was almost burnt down to the filter, so I got up and threw it over the railing. 

When I entered the saloon, I saw two men in weird armor sitting at the bar. One of them looked to be about my dad’s age, the other was about my age. The younger one had vibrant red hair, medium length. I wonder if I could hire them as hired guns? Whatever, I didn’t have time for this. “Hey, lass, did ya take care of that bitch yet?” Moriarty shouted from across the bar. Shit, I thought this was supposed to be a discrete job. 

“Uh...yeah.” I said, walking up to him. “Good! You can keep anything you got from her. Hope she got what she deserved.” He said, with a slight hint of anger to his voice. I just silently stood there, my expression went blank. “Well, anyways, you can keep the caps, lass.” He said. 

“Can you please tell me where my dad went now?” I asked quickly, like I said before, my dad was the only thing I had anymore. 

“Yeah, that’ll be 100 caps, lass.” He stated. 

“Wait, what the fuck? I took care of Silver for you and I still have to pay you?” I shouted at him. 

“Look, I’m running a business, not a charity here. It’s called economics, kid.” Moriarty said smugly. 

“Fine.” I grumbled, pouring a few of my caps out on the counter, carefully counting out 100, putting any leftover caps back in my bag. “Those are yours, now where the fuck did my dad go?” I snarled. He walked over to the counter and took the caps. 

“He went to the GNR building.” He said pointing at my Pip-Boy. “That fancy computer on yer wrist should be able to locate it for ya.” I looked at my Pip-Boy, raising my arm closer to my face to pinpoint the location of the GNR building. 

“Thanks, Moriarty.” I said, walking to the other side of the bar.

I sat on a stool next to that red-haired guy I saw while I was walking in. “Gob, my good man, can I get a bottle of whiskey?” I asked, waving my hand at gob. 

“Sure thing drunkie.” He said, reaching underneath the bar to grab a bottle for me. “That’ll be 15 caps.” Reaching into my bag, I noticed that I caught the eye of the guy next to me. 

“Can I help you?” I asked sarcastically, finally getting exactly 15 caps out of my bag.  

“Uh...uhm...no...I” He said shyly. I turned to look at him as I popped the cork out of my bottle of whiskey. Taking a quick swig straight from the bottle, I looked at him. 

“Well, shit. I’m Bri. Bri Lewandowski.” I said, looking back at my whiskey, thinking of how I just...shot that woman just for some caps. I could feel him still looking at me, it almost felt like he knew what I did. 

“I’m Cody.” He stated, then pointed to the guy next to him. “And this is Jericho. We used to run with a gang of raiders...we decided to get out of that game though. How’s this town? I feel like I need a fresh start.” I looked at him, confused. He seemed so genuine. What the fuck is a raider? I chuckled as I took another swig from my whiskey. 

“Shit, I just got here today.” Looking down at my Pip-Boy, I saw what time it was. It was already 10:25 p.m. “Shit.” He looked at me 

“What, did I say something wrong?” He questioned. 

“No..it’s just getting late.” I said, then began to gulp down my whiskey, accidentally knocking the bottle to the floor, shattering it. Quickly, I got off of my stool and started walking to the door, but I looked back at him and his much older friend. “Hey...would you two by any chance be able to escort me to the GNR Building?” 

Cody, without hesitation blurted out “Yeah, we’d love to.” 

“What the fuck are you talking about, Cody? You don’t know this bitch.” Jericho barked. 

“If you two make up your minds...meet me by the previously empty house.” I said, waving at both of them as I walked out of the saloon door.

On my way home, I was kind of stumbling around. Damn me for being a lightweight. As I was stumbling over myself, I looked back at the saloon and I saw the door open. Two men came out. They started walking towards me and I realized they were the two men from the bar. “Hey, you looked like you might have needed a little help home. I saw you stumbling out of the door.” Cody laughed as he picked me up. 

“Woah woah, buddy. I...I can walk...asshole.” I slurred. I mean, I’m rather petite, I’m 5’1” and maybe about 110 pounds, so yes, people can easily carry me. Jumping Jesus on a pogo stick, especially this guy. He was about 6’2” and built like a fucking tank. I was probably nothing to lift up. Honestly, though, I didn’t really mind it. I probably would have taken forever to get back, or just passed out on someone’s doorstep. Jericho looked at him, then me, and crossed his arms. Cody convinced him to tag along I guess. I gave Cody directions to my house and told him to put me down at the door. I reached into the pocket of Butch’s jacket and got my key, I put it in the lock and opened the door to my very own house for the first time. All three of us walked into my house, I looked at them both and said; “Make yourselves at home, I guess. We leave early tomorrow morning. Just...stay down here. I claim the upstairs.” So, I began stumbling upstair as Jericho and Cody stayed downstairs and made themselves at home. I opened the door to the bedroom and plopped down on my bed, taking off Butch’s jacket. “I can’t believe I’ll never see him again…” I sighed, balling the jacket up and throwing it on my bed, intending to use it as a pillow. 

Before I undressed further, I glanced around to make sure Cody and Jericho actually stayed downstairs. When I confirmed this, I closed my door and took my gun holster off of my right leg, setting it on my desk. Then, I took down my ponytail, letting my hair flow free. Finally, I unzipped my vault suit, shedding it off as I walked towards my bed in just my tanktop and panties. Don’t judge me, that shit is comfortable. Lying in bed, I snuggled up with Butch’s jacket, thinking about the last thing he said to me...and how he looked at me. If I would have been able to stay there, would there have been something between us? A tear rolled down my cheek as I thought about this. Smelling the cologne on his jacket only made things worse. My first night out in the Capital Wasteland, I cried myself to sleep over a missed possible shot at love. I knew now there was no turning back, I just had to find my dad.

The next morning, I stared at my ceiling until I heard Cody and Jericho arguing. I rolled out of bed and started putting on my vault suit, tying the arms of it around my hips instead of putting it on fully. As I was putting my holster back on my right leg, someone knocked on my bedroom door. “Yeah, come in.” I grumbled as I pulled my shirt up a bit, tying it in a knot just above my waist. 

“Hey..uh...I was just wondering when we were heading out.” Cody said as he was opening the door. 

“Uhm…” I hesitated, putting my hair up in my normal ponytail. “I suppose now would be as good of a time as any.” Walking towards my bed to get Butch’s jacket, I looked at Cody and put the jacket in my bag. “Be sure Jericho is ready, meet me at Craterside Supply.” 

“Alright, we’ll be there in a few minutes” He said, then he walked back downstairs. 

Quickly, I made my way to the Craterside Supply store. As I opened the door, I saw a woman with bright red hair. She was about 5'5” and wore her hair up in a messy bun. “Oh hey there!” She said enthusiastically. “You must be that stray from the vault! I’m Moira Brown, and I run this store!” I stared at her, blankly, questioning why she was so enthusiastic about things out here. 

“Uh...yeah. I’m Bri Lewandowski, from vault 101.” I said flatly. 

“Would you care to tell me a few things about life in the vault? It would make a great prologue to my book!” Moira said, with a huge grin on her face. Seriously, why the fuck was she so happy?

“Sure, Moira.” I replied. 

“Good! So what was it like getting your first glimpse at the wasteland?” She asked. 

“This ‘Outside’ place is amazing! In the main room, I can’t even see the ceiling!” I said sarcastically. 

“Hah! Yeah! You wouldn’t imagine how hard it is to replace that big lightbulb up there too! That’s a great foreward-open with a joke and all that! Here.” She giggled, grabbing an armored vault 101 suit from behind the counter. “Take the suit, something tells me you might need it.” I smiled and accepted it. 

“Thanks, Moira.” Just then, I saw the door open. Cody and Jericho have arrived. I glanced at Moira. “Hey, thanks for the extra armor...can I by any chance get some ammo too?” 

“Sure!” She said, happily. “How much do you need?” I reached into the ammo compartment in my bag, and felt around. 

“Oh, I don’t know, 48 10mm rounds?” 

“Sure thing! That will be 96 caps, miss!” She exclaimed. I silently handed her my caps and put the ammo in my ammo compartment. 

“Thanks, Moira. I’ll see you around.” I said, walking towards the door. “Let’s go, guys.” I said to Cody and Jericho.

We exited the store and started walking to the town gate. “So what exactly are we doing?” Cody asked. 

“The fuck do you mean what are we doing? We’re following this bitch and you didn’t even ask what we were doing?” Jericho barked. 

Glaring at Jericho, I said “We’re going to the GNR building. I….I’m looking for someone.” Jericho glared back at me. His eyes were cold as ice as he stared at me. “Don’t look at me like that, asswipe. I’ll fuck you up.” I scoffed, picking up my pace. “We don’t have time to be dicking around, pick up the pace, you two.” 

Finally, we were out on the open road. We were silent for a while, Jericho obviously didn’t want to be there, but for some reason, the other guy seemed to enjoy being around me. I mean, I had no complaints; I don’t like being on my own. Especially out here. “You fuckin’ idiots, get down.” Jericho snapped quietly. Both Cody and I quickly crouched down, hearing the gunfire. I put my hand on my holstered 10mm pistol and I saw Cody and Jericho draw their guns. They both had guns that looked like an AK 47. I was in awe when I saw their guns and thought only one thing; I need to get myself one of those. We moved forward, trying to be as quiet as possible, weapons drawn. As we rounded the corner of a building, my Pip-Boy said we were at the “Super Duper Mart”, on the right track to find my dad. Jericho peeked around the corner and once again, gunfire rang out. “Shit!” He yelled, quickly getting up and opening fire. Cody quickly followed suit, but I didn’t know what to do. Why were people even shooting at us? I got up and walked around the corner, raising my pistol at a man, no older than 22, coming at me with a knife. When I saw the knife, I shot him in the leg.

”What the fuck are you doing, you stupid bitch?!” The man yelled at me. I didn’t want to kill him, so I shot him in his other leg and began walking away. 

“Hey! What the fuck are you doing?” Jericho yelled at me, setting the barrel of his gun against the man’s head. 

“I...I don’t want to kill anyone.” I sighed. 

“Well too fuckin’ bad. Do you know where you fuckin’ are? You’re in the wasteland now. It’s kill or be killed.” He barked at me, shooting the man in the head. 

I looked back and saw 3 dead bodies, Cody and Jericho must have killed the other two while I was having my hesitations. “Look, Jericho. I don’t…” I hesitated, stumbling over my words, he just fucking shot a guy in front of me. “I don’t want to kill anyone...violence just isn't my style.” I said with a faint smile, remembering when I said that to Amata...I missed her. I missed everyone from the vault. 

“Why the fuck are we travelling with this bitch if she won’t even kill anyone?” Jericho barked at Cody. 

“Jericho, she needed hel-” 

“Calm the fuck down, Jericho.” I growled, cutting Cody off. “You can straighten yourself out, or I can just leave you here to die.” 

He had the most disgusting laugh. “Leave ME here to die?” He cackled. “You’d already be dead without the two of us.” 

I looked down at my shoes gloomily. “Yeah...I know. You’re right.” Slowly starting to walk, my words trailed behind me. “Thank you...both of you.” I started to leave the two of them behind. 

“What the fuck, Jericho.” Cody snapped at him, running after me. “Bri, I’m sorry, he can be kind of a dick.” I kept walking. 

“No, Cody, he’s right. If I’m going to survive out here, I shouldn’t be completely useless.” I said, and looked back at Jericho. “Come on, let’s go.” Jericho looked at me and shrugged. 

“Guess I have nothing better to do.” He muttered. 

We reached a small body of water and we all looked at each other.”So do we just swim across…? Isn’t it...radiated?” I asked, looking at both of them. 

“No shit it’s full of radiation.” Jericho said. Cody glanced at me and Jericho. 

“Here.” I said, handing them each a pill from my Rad-X bottle. “It minimizes the effects of radiation.” They both looked at me as if they were wondering how I’ve only been out here a day and already knew this. “My...dad is a doctor. He taught me everything I know about medicine.” They both took their Rad-X, I took mine as well, then we all looked at each other. 

“Let’s fuckin’ go already.” Mumbled Jericho. We entered the water and swam as fast as we could across the little stagnant river. As we were reaching the other side, finally able to stand in the water, we got shot at by a woman, wearing the same kind of armor as Cody and Jericho as well as the men they killed earlier. I swiftly pulled out my gun and shot her in the arm first, then in the stomach, killing her. Jericho looked at me, surprised I actually killed her. Numbly, I walked over to her corpse. There was no blood on her armor, or any bullet holes in it. So, I decided she didn't need it anymore. She also had about 7 caps on her, so I took those too. 

I looked back at Cody and Jericho, and slowly walked back over to them. Jericho looked at me and said “Fuck yeah! You finally grew a pair, huh?” I stared at him angrily, and didn't say a word. 

“Let’s fucking go.” I scoffed, walking towards the subway entrance. The three of us entered the underground tunnel. 

“Do you even know where we’re fuckin’ goin’?” Jericho asked. I lifted up my left arm, showing him the map on my Pip-Boy. 

“Yes, I do. Don’t underestimate me. Asshole.” I barked. 

Cody looked at me, with his weapon drawn. “I don’t think it’s safe down here, stop arguing and stay alert.” He said, glancing between Jericho and I. “What’s your story anyways?” He asked me. 

“Oh...well. I’m from vault 101...I left yesterday. Well, escaped I guess.” I said flatly, looking down at my hand on my holstered weapon. “I came after my dad...he left yesterday morning as well.” Cody silently nodded. “What about you two? And who are those people dressed like you who keep shooting at us?” 

“They’re raiders. We were raiders once too.” Cody said. 

“Yeah, we got outta that game while we still could.” Jericho explained. “All the chems and all the killin’ just make you feel empty after a while.” 

Just as we were all getting acquainted, 4 mole rats came and attacked us. We all raised our weapons at them and fired away. They were actually incredibly easy to kill. “I told you two it wasn’t safe here.” Cody laughed. We continued making our way through the tunnels, killing mole rats whenever we saw them. We were fairly quiet until we were close to the end of the tunnel, we saw signs for where to exit. 

“Wait...what the fuck is that?” I whispered, I tried not to let Cody and Jericho hear the fear in my voice. 

“That’s a feral ghoul...practically zombies.” Cody said quietly. There were three of them up ahead, their skin was all withered away and they really only growl as communication. I placed my hand on my 10mm pistol, which I holstered after our last mole rat encounter. 

“So...they’re not really people anymore, right?” I whispered back. 

“No...not really.” Cody whispered, I could see Jericho getting anxious to shoot something. I pulled out my gun as Jericho and Cody pulled out theirs. 

“Let’s go.” I whispered to the. Jericho didn’t hesitate and killed one of the ghouls. Cody also killed a ghoul, which just left me and the last feral. It was almost like Cody and Jericho saved it for me. I raised my weapon and fired at it, I fired five fucking shots before I killed it. 

“Hell yeah!” exclaimed Jericho. “You’re not completely useless.” He said, flashing me a devilish grin. 

I grinned back at him and said “Yeah, I’m just full of surprises, huh?” Cody looked at both of us, he looked happy that we were just finally getting along. Finally, we were able to exit the tunnel into a place my Pip-Boy called “Chevy Chase”. “Stay alert.” I  whispered to both of them. “Something seems wrong...it’s too quiet here.” Jericho and Cody silently nodded, taking my cue to pull out our guns and stay quiet until we cleared the area. “What the…” I whispered to myself, seeing what’s known as a “Super Mutant” for the first time. They’re big, ugly, abominations of human beings. What made them that way? Fuck if I know, I just knew they were disgusting brutes with a grudge against humans. 

“Come out, hooman!” One of them yelled, sensing our presence. 

“Have you ever seen one of these before?” Cody whispered to me, I think he could see the fear in my eyes. 

“No…” I trailed off, looking at that...that thing with disgusting green skin. It was maybe at least three feet taller than Cody, they were gigantic. 

“Look, Bri, just stay calm. They may be brutes, but should be fairly easy to take down, just try to aim for the head.” Cody whispered to me, staring right at it. I silently nodded and raised my pistol, aiming for the monstrosity’s head. I exhaled and squeezed the trigger, hoping to get a steady shot. Fortunately, I hit my target. Unfortunately, there was another super mutant around the corner that heard the commotion, just to see his comrade fall before him. Once again, I aimed my weapon at the super mutant and pulled the trigger. My luck fucking sucks, my gun jammed! 

“What the fuck!” I shouted, the panic set in. Jericho and Cody looked at me in awe, wondering why I wasn’t shooting. “It’s fucking jammed!” I barked at them. As they were pulling their weapons out, we were saved by a woman in clanky, bulky, steel armor with blonde hair and a laser rifle. At that moment, my luck seemed to have turned around.


	3. Fighting the Good Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bri, Cody, and Jericho meet Three Dog and help fight the good fight. They find a new relay dish so GNR can be heard once again by the wasteland. Jericho and Bri have a heart-to-heart.

“Are you idiots trying to get yourselves killed?” The woman shouted at us. Jericho, Cody, and I looked at each other in awe. 

“Who….who are you?” I stammered, still messing around with my jammed gun. 

“Sarah Lyons.” She announced proudly. “Leader of the Lyon’s Pride, we’re with the Brotherhood of Steel.” I looked at her in awe, admiring her armor. Nothing could probably hurt her in that. 

“What’s the Brotherhood of Steel?” I asked, I mean, I’m oblivious to most things in the wasteland, I’m still a noob out here after all. Sarah, Cody, and Jericho looked at me like I was an idiot. “Fuck all of you, I just came from a vault? Do you expect me to know everything about the wasteland when I’ve only been out here for one fucking day?” I shouted, tossing my jammed gun on the ground. 

“Well...the Brotherhood of Steel.” Sarah giggled. “We believe in preserving pre-war tech and provide assistance to those who need it. Like the GNR building, who are overrun with muties right now.” Her expression turned grim and she looked me dead in the eyes. “All you people are doing is slowing me down.” She scoffed, turning to walk away.

“Wait!” I shouted, stumbling for the gun I probably just fucking destroyed beyond repair. “We’re on our way to the GNR building, can we come with you? Please? I swear I won’t get in the way.” I pleaded, I really needed to find my dad, and I really need to know why he left me. She turned around and looked at us silently. 

“Get in our way, and chances are, you’ll get killed. Got it?” Sarah said, actually accepting my pleas. Cody, Jericho, and I quietly followed Sarah to a small group of other people, who I’m assuming were with the Brotherhood of Steel as well, due to their incredible armor. “Alright, Pride, let’s do this!” Sarah shouted, riling the other people in the group up. Shit, even Jericho was into it. Immediately, she led her troops into battle against the super mutants. Finally, after fiddling around with it, I unjammed my pistol and was once again, ready for action. 

“Bri, you may need something more powerful than that.” Cody said, pulling out his assault rifle. 

“Nah, I’ll be fine. It’s unjammed now.” I grumbled, showing him my gun. He just shrugged and looked over at Jericho, who apparently thought what I said was the most hilarious thing ever said.

We started to get shot at by some super mutants. Finally I could get a new weapon! All I had to do was kill one of them! Honestly, I let the Brotherhood do most of the work, I had to conserve my ammo. When Sarah and the others took down the two super mutants shooting at us, I made sure to grab their guns. They used some sort of hunting rifles, but they had plenty of ammo. Finally, I can help in the fighting. I loaded my new rifle, which held quite a bit less than my pistol. Shit, I could hold 12 rounds in my pistol, but only 5 rounds could be held with this thing. Swiftly, Cody, Jericho, and I ran in front of the Lyon’s Pride, we had to pull our weight, right? “What the hell are you three doing? You’re going to get yourselves killed!” Sarah shouted at us, shooting at a super mutant. 

“We’ll be fine, we shouldn’t just get a free escort though.” I smirked, running up to a super mutant. As I was running at the super mutant, I made sure to keep my rifle aimed at its head. 

“Silly hooman!” It shouted at me. Yes. I was positioned just right, so I pulled the trigger when the barrel of my rifle was right below its chin, splattering its brains everywhere. 

“Fuck yeah, Bri! You’re getting the hang of this!” Jericho cheered, shooting a mutant’s legs, so it couldn't walk. Then finally killed it. I’ve never seen someone….enjoy killing so much. It was kind of scary, but I was just happy he was on my side. 

“Come on, let’s go!” Sarah shouted at her troops, running towards what my Pip-Boy said was the GNR building. I looked at Cody and Jericho, then followed the pride with them trailing closely behind. By the time we got to the building, Lyons and her troops already killed off all the super mutants, so we just waltzed up to the building. 

“Hey.” I spoke into the intercom. “I need to get in here, I’m supposed to talk to someone.” The intercom was silent, and I was about to go for the door until a voice came through.

“Sorry, we can’t let anyone in until the perimeter is secure.” 

“What the fuck do you mean?! All those...things...are dead!” I shouted to the intercom, punching the window next to it. 

“Sorry, you have to wait until the rest of the troops are done securing the area.” 

I resignated and decided to sit down on the stairs outside the building with Cody and Jericho and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. “Either of you want one?” I asked, glancing between the two of them. 

“Sure.” Jericho said, reaching over taking a cigarette from my pack. I glanced at Cody, handing my pack to him, but he just shook his head. Oh well, more for me, right? Lighting up my cigarette, I looked at the statue in the middle of the courtyard. Jericho looked over at me, I could see out of the corner of my eye, it looked like I reminded him of someone. “Hey Bri…” Jericho started. When I turned to look at him, I saw it, he must have saw the fear in my eyes, shit, I even dropped my freshly lit cigarette, because him and Cody turned around to look too. 

“Look out, you three! It’s a Behemoth!” Sarah yelled to us. “There should be a Fat Man on Initiate Redding!” I quickly ran over to the initiate’s body, dodging bullets and shrapnel, looking for this “Fat Man” she mentioned, I found a mini-nuke launcher though. 

“Sarah! Get out of the way!” I shouted, holding my new toy, pointing it at this “Behemoth” as she called it. Quickly, I launched a nuke at it, causing guts and blood of the mutant to rain down on all of us. “Oh. Fucking gross.” I whined, walking back over to the door, shaking the gore off of me. 

Jericho was just having a grand fucking time, laughing at me, covered in mutant guts. “Hey, at least I fucking killed it.” I snapped, reaching for the door. “Let’s go, bitches. Thanks for the assist, Lyons.” Jericho and Cody quickly followed me into the building. “Hey, who’s in charge here?” I asked a man in power armor. 

“Who? Uh...if you’re looking to talk to someone, you’d want Three Dog. He’s in that room.” He said, pointing to a door on the second floor. 

“Thanks, I appreciate it.” I said, storming off to the door, still covered in mutant blood. Fuck this is nasty. Jericho and Cody could tell I was pissed off, so they kept their distance. 

“Hey Bri.” Jericho said. 

“What?” I snapped, with my hand on the doorknob, getting ready to open the door to the man who knew where my father went. 

“Cody and I will just wait out here, take your time, okay?” 

“Yeah, whatever.” I sighed, finally walking through the door. 

When I stepped into the room, I looked around and saw no one, but I heard a radio. There was a set of stairs to my right, so I decided to go up and check it out. “The look on your face says it all. You’re wondering who this guy is, and why you should care. Well, prepare to be enlightened.” A man said, he had dark skin, wore a gray knit cap, and sunglasses...and I was incredibly confused. “I am Three Dog--jockey of discs and teller of truths. Lord and master over the finest radio station to grace the wastes-Galaxy News Radio. And you...” He looked at me, with a slight grin. “I know who you are. Heard about you leavin’ that vault, travelin’ the unknown. Just like dear old dad, hmm? Met him already…” I’m sure he could see my face light up when he said he met my dad already. 

“So, you’ve seen him? Do you know where he went?” I asked. 

“Look, I know where your dad went, but if you want any information, you’re going to have to help fight the good fight.” Three Dog told me, I’m also pretty sure he was being polite by not pointing out the mutant blood all over me. 

“Fighting the good fight, huh? I’m in, although in exchange, you give me the information on my dad.” I said, wiping the mutant blood off my face. 

“Uhh..yeah. That was a bit freaky, but okay! You’re on board for fighting the good fight!” He exclaimed “Now, what I need you to do is install a new relay dish on top of the Washington Monument so the whole wasteland can tune in to my station and get in on the good fight as well.” Blankly, I looked at him, waiting for more directions, but he just stood there. “What?” He asked. 

“Do you have any idea where I can find a new relay dish?” I sighed. 

“Oh. The only replacement for the dish is on the old Virgo II Lunar Lander in the Museum of Technology.” He replied to me.

“This all...uh...sounds very risky.” I said, digging in my bag for Butch’s jacket. 

“Well, it IS risky. But you have the same look in your eyes as your dad does. It’s a look that screams ‘I can get shit done’.” He said. 

“Alright, Three Dog.” I said, putting on Butch’s jacket. “You got yourself a deal.” 

“Hell yeah! Don’t come back to me, just go and put that dish up. I’ll tell you where your dad is after.” He smiled, waking up to a bunch of fancy looking, what I’m assuming was radio equipment. With a smile on my face, I walked back through the door, where Cody and Jericho were waiting. 

“Let’s go.” I told them. “We’re heading to the Museum of Technology.” 

We made our way, slowly, but surely to the Museum of Technology. On the way we killed many feral ghouls and a few super mutants. “Shit, Jericho! Pay attention!” I yelled, pointing my hunting rifle at the super mutant behind him. 

“Actin’ like I’m not payin’ attention.” He cackled, revealing a large knife that he reached back and stabbed the mutant with, the quickly getting out of the way, so I had a clear shot. Quickly, I shot the mutant, twice in the head. I let out a heavy sigh of relief and looked up. 

“Huh. Looks like we finally made it.” Cody said, also letting out a sigh of relief. 

“Yeah, looks like we did.” I smiled, heading for the door. “The quicker we get this done, the quicker we can rest for the night.” I said, checking my Pip-Boy. It was only 5...we had plenty of time. We busted through the front doors of the museum. “Stay alert.” I whispered to them with my rife drawn. 

“Come out hooman!” The oh so familiar call of the super mutants. 

“Shit.” I muttered quietly. Cody and Jericho looked at me. Suddenly, Jericho stood up, firing his assault rifle at the super mutant. 

“What the fuck, Jericho?” Cody and I shouted as the super mutant fell over, obviously dead. 

“What? No one was doing anything so I killed the fuckin’ thing.” Jericho snapped. 

“I’m going to eat your legs when you’re dead, hooman!” a super mutant shouted. From where? I have no fucking clue.

“That’s what, Jericho! You fucking moron!” I shouted, obviously I was pissed off. “Come on out, mutie. I’ll make this quick!” I shouted, finally spotting the mutant. Quickly, I glared at Jericho, then pointed my rifle at the mutant’s head and shot it, killing it obviously. 

“How the fuck was I supposed to know there was another fuckin’ one of those things?” Jericho shouted. 

“Shut up, Jericho, this obviously isn’t the time for that.” Cody said, following me as I walked up the stairs. We carefully checked every room in that general area, coming across no super mutants. Thank God. We began walking to the other side of the second level and the only way to the door was through a Vault-Tec vault display. With no choice but to go through, we hurried through it. This stirred up memories for me...taking the G.O.A.T exam, dad, Amata...Butch. I folded my arms as we walked through, Cody and Jericho could tell I was uncomfortable walking through there, primarily because of my experience in the vault. 

We hurried through the rest of the vault walkthrough and stopped at the door to the next area of the museum. I drew my gun, they did the same. “We have to be careful. We don’t know what the fuck is in there.” I said to them, quietly. They both nodded at me as I silently opened the door, quietly stepping through, trying so hard not to make a sound. We quietly went down some stairs to our right, looking around for where to go next. 

“Here!” Cody whispered to us, leading us into the planetarium. Quickly, Jericho and I walked over to Cody, who was obviously already going into the planetarium. Suddenly, it began making noise. At that moment, my heart sank. I knew we were fucked. It would just be a beacon for super mutants to know humans were around. 

_ For as long as history has been recorded, man has had an insatiable hunger for knowledge regarding the universe. _

“Fuck!” I shouted, I don’t even think at anyone, I was just pissed that thing was talking. “How the fuck can we turn this damn thing off?” I took out my baseball bat and began hitting it, why? Because I thought I could break it and make it shut the fuck up. 

“Bri!” Cody shouted at me. “You’re only making more noise, you’re not helping anything! Now the mutants WILL know there’s people here.” 

“Cody, shut the fuck up and stop shouting! That will only attract them faster!” I yelled, obviously in a fit of rage. 

_ To understand why man is so interested in this unknown expanse of space around our little world, we must take a journey! _

“You hoomans!” I heard a shout. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck. “So weak!” A mutant shouted, breaking down a door. “So stoopid!” Another shout...another mutant. Shit. Luckily, Cody and Jericho were prepared as I was beating the shit out of the planetarium. Before I even had a chance to react, they shot down the two super mutants that found us. 

_ Please, sit back *crack*, relax, and free yourself *pop* from the bonds of our planet *bzzz* as we take off for the stars! *bzzzzzt* _

As the planetarium fizzled out, I slouched down next to it, my knees pulled up to my chest. I let out a huge sigh as I rested my forehead on my knees, looking down. “Do I really have to get this stupid relay dish?” I muttered, still a little shaken up. If it wasn’t for Jericho and Cody, I definitely would have been dead by now. 

“It will help you find who you’re looking for, right?” Cody said, sitting next to me as Jericho just sighed.

“Yeah…” I replied. “But can’t I just...not? Can I just go back to the vault already? I fucking hate it out here.” I whimpered, letting tears fall from my face. 

“Oh for fuck’s sake. Stop your fuckin’ cryin’.” Jericho snapped. “You’re out in the wastes now. Let’s get that fuckin’ dish and let’s go already.” I lifted my head up, looked at Cody then Jericho, and nodded. Cody helped me up and I wiped my tears away...onto Butch’s jacket. 

Quickly, we made our way through the rest of the museum, killing all the super mutants we saw. I retrieved the Virgo II dish. We made no haste, sprinting as fast as we could to the Washington Monument, Jericho and Cody provided cover fire while I just ran as fast as I could. We reached the monument, and I saw Brotherhood of Steel soldiers there. “Open the gate!” I shouted at them, flashing them the dish. 

“Shit, man, she has the dish, open the gate.” I overheard the soldier on the outside say to the one on the inside of the gate. Then, I saw the gate open. 

“Cody! Jericho! Hurry up! We’ll loot the bodies when we’re done here!” I shouted, starting to slow my pace to a light jog. I. Fucking. Made. It. Well, WE fucking made it. All of us walked through the gate and the Brotherhood of Steel soldier closed it behind us. We walked into the monument and hit the call button for the elevator. Shit, does this thing even work still? To my surprise, yes. Yes it did. I looked at them. “You two...please, wait here. I’m not sure how stable this elevator is...and this is something I have to do.” I said, smiling at them. This also gave me my emotional overload time I desperately needed. 

“Fine. Whatever. Take your time.” Jericho said, lighting up a cigarette. Cody just silently smiled and nodded at me. 

“Thanks, guys.” I enthused.  

When I entered the elevator, I pushed the button for the top floor and checked my Pip-Boy. It was only 6:15. We had plenty of time to look for my dad after we got back to Three Dog...I just hoped he was okay. I sat in the corner of the elevator, getting a bottle of whiskey out of my bag. “Well...might as well.” I said, raising the bottle as if I was toasting with someone. “Here’s to you dad...wherever you are.” I smiled, pressing the bottle up to my lips and taking a swig of the liquor inside. 

Silently, I sat there, just listening to the rickety elevator take me higher and higher, until eventually, one third of my whiskey was gone and I arrived at the top. Shakily, I stood up, bottle in hand, and I walked out. I made no haste looking for the radio equipment and installed the dish. I fucking did it. Quickly, I stumbled back to the elevator, pushing the button, and once again sitting in the corner with my whiskey. This time I was thinking about him...about Butch. He had no idea I wasn’t coming back...I didn’t even say a proper goodbye to him. 

The elevator reeked of booze when it reached the bottom floor, where I left cody and Jericho. “O..okay, assholes. Let’sfucking go.” I slurred. 

“Holy shit, are you fuckin’ drunk?” Jericho yelled. 

“I’m a grown woman! I can do whatever I...oh...oh hold on…” I ran over to the fence and proceeded to unleash the contents of my stomach on the ground. “I...I can do what I want.” I giggled, as if nothing just happened. 

“Okay...we’re resting here tonight.” Cody said softly, going into the monument, I’m assuming to set up an area to sleep. He was smart enough to bring sleeping bags, one of us had to be smart enough to do that I guess. 

“Look, Bri.” Jericho said, walking over to me. “What.” I muttered, turning my gaze away from him. “You’ve been through a lot since you’ve been out here. I...shit. This isn’t my style. But, Bri, you’ve done good for yourself so far. Your dad will be proud of you when he hears about all you did to find him.” He smiled, like genuinely smiled, then helped me stumble into the Monument. Him and Cody gently laid me down on a sleeping bag, leaving me alone to sleep for the rest of the night. 

I woke up around 1 a.m. and Jericho, for some odd reason, was still up. “Jericho…” I said sleepily, rubbing my eyes. 

“Huh? Oh, you’re up.” Jericho said, glancing at me. 

“Yeah...I guess I couldn’t sleep in this jacket.” I giggled, taking Butch’s jacket off and putting it in my lap. 

“So...that jacket mean something to you?” He said, now glancing down to Butch’s jacket. 

“Oh...this…?” I asked, looking at it fondly. “Yes...it does.” He probably saw a look in my eyes that he’s never seen before, it was the look in my eyes I got whenever I thought of Butch. First, complete bliss...then just emptiness. 

“So the person that gave that to ya...are they...dead?” Jericho asked me, lighting up a cigarette. 

“Huh? No. I...just miss him a lot more than I should. He’s from the vault.” I said, reaching into my bag to get my cigarettes too. 

“Look, I’m sure you’ve gotten sick of me by now. But I have my reasons why I’m so tough on ya.” Jericho said, looking up at the stars, exhaling his cigarette smoke. 

“Yeah?” I asked curiously, lighting up my cigarette. 

“Yeah. You remind me a lot of my wife.” He said with a faint smile on his face, which quickly faded away.

I was shocked, I didn’t know Jericho was married. “What do you mean?” I asked, exhaling my cigarette smoke. 

“She...was a lot like you. She was soft and sweet...yet she was with me. A fuckin’ raider. She was too good to run with raider scum like me.” He scowled. 

“Woah, I’ve never been married...only interested in someone who didn’t seem to notice me until I was leaving the vault…” I trailed off, getting a slight frown on my face. “Jericho...I never even told him goodbye…” 

“Look, kid, if it’s meant to be, you’ll see the guy again one day. I...I wish I could say the same about my wife. I got too deep in the raider life, man. I tried to help her toughen up but it just wasn’t enough.” He said, putting his hands over his face. 

“Well...what happened?” I asked softly, once again exhaling my smoke. 

“Like I said, I got in too deep. I dragged her down with me. She was killed...this was before I even met Cody…” He trailed off. I got up and walked over to Jericho and sat down next to him, putting my cigarette-less hand on his shoulder. 

“Jericho, look. If you ever need to talk about this again, I’m here for you.” I told him. 

“Yeah, thanks, kid.” He said, with an empty smile on his face. 

“You should get some sleep, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.” I said to him, getting up to walk back over to my sleeping bag. He just silently nodded as I threw my cigarette out. “Good night, Jericho.” 

“Yeah, yeah, good night Bri.” He said, laying down on his sleeping bag.

The next morning, we all headed back to the GNR building, more silent than usual. We made it back in, what I feel like was, record time. “Well holy shit!” Three Dog exclaimed. “You fuckin’ did it! I thought you got turned into mutie food.” 

“Yeah, I couldn’t have done it without these two though.” I said nodding towards Cody and Jericho. “Now, we had a deal.” I said, triumphantly. 

“Yeah, yeah. We sure did. Get this; he said he was Heading to Rivet City to talk with a Doctor Li.” He said to me. “Hey, keep fighting the good fight with your dad out there.” 

“Yeah, Three Dog...if I ever find him, I’ll find a way. See ya.” I said, waving back to him as I was leaving the building, Cody and Jericho following close behind me. We were off to Rivet City. Finally, I was going to see my dad.


	4. Scientific Pursuits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bri, Cody, and Jericho are sent to Rivet City and talk to Doctor Li.

A few hours after leaving the GNR radio station and after killing more than our share of monstrous creatures and collecting caps, we arrived at Rivet City. I looked at in, in absolute awe. “Jumping Jesus on a pogo stick…” I said quietly, staring at the giant boat in front of us. This was a city? 

“Quite a sight, isn’t i?” Cody said to me with a smile on his face.

“Fuck yeah it is.” I said, beginning to walk up the stairs where there was a man sitting on top of them. 

“Do...do you have any water?” He asked me, pathetically. Quickly, I checked my bag. 

“Sorry, we must have drank all of it on our way here. If I find any I can purchase in the city for you, I’ll bring it to you.” I smiled. 

“Being that nice to people will get you killed out here.” Jericho scoffed at me. Cody and I glared to him as I walked over to an intercom, I’m assuming it was the way into the city. 

“Hey, I’m looking for a Doctor Li? I heard she was in Rivet City.” I spoke through the intercom. 

“Is she expecting you?” A man barked over the intercom. 

“No sir, but I think she has information on someone I’m looking for.” I said kindly. 

“Shit. Fine. Wait for the bridge to extend, then come over. I’ll give you directions to her lab.” The man said, more politely this time.

Cody and I waited patiently for the bridge to extend, Jericho was impatient as always. “Shit, would this thing just hurry up already?” Jericho growled. 

“Jericho. Be patient.” I said, the bridge almost finally reached us. I took my 10mm pistol from my holster and put it in my bag, I didn’t want the guards getting the wrong idea of me. “Let’s go.” I said to Cody and Jericho, beginning to cross the bridge quickly. They could tell I was anxious, probably hoping my dad was still here. Deep down, I really was hoping he was still here, I just missed the fuck out of him, even though I gained new friends. 

“I’m the Security Chief around here. Name’s Harkness. You’re looking for Doctor Li, right?” The guard from the intercom asked me. 

“Yes, I am. She might have some answers for me as to where my father went.” I said, reaching my hand out for a handshake. “I’m Bri. Bri Lewandowski.” I smiled at him. Harkness shook my hand and smiled back at me. 

“You go through the door right there.” He said, pointing to a door. “In there, you’ll just follow the signs. Good luck finding your dad, Bri.” 

“Thank you, Harkness.” I smiled, opening the big metal door. 

We entered a small room with two sets of stairs in the middle of it, one flight going up, the other going down. I looked around at the signs in a hurry. “Rivet City Science Lab...there. I bet that's where she is.” I said, with a huge grin on my face. 

“I hope so...this place is fuckin’ huge and I don’t wanna be here all day.” Jericho snarled. 

“Shut the fuck up, and let’s go!” I exclaimed to Jericho and Cody, quickly opening the cold, heavy metal door. 

“Bri, slow down!” Cody said to me. Well, I was practically running down the hallway, so I slowed my pace to a brisk walk. 

“I...I’m sorry. I just need to see if my dad is still here...I hope he is.” I said with a small glimmer of hope in my voice. That was it. The corridor to the door was right in front of me. Do I hug my dad first or punch him for leaving me like that? Oh well….I didn’t care, I just wanted to see him. 

I bursted through the door, running across the metal platform and down some stair. “Alright! Which one of you is Doctor Li?” I yelled. 

“I am.” An asian woman said, walking towards me. She was about 5’ 6”, black hair worn in an updo, and pretty brown eyes, like mine. 

“Doctor...have you seen my dad? Three Dog told me he was coming here you see yo-” 

Bitch fucking interrupted me. The fuck. “Oh my god...you look...you look just like him.” She said, looking at my face. 

“Um...yeah...Doctor Li, any information you can give me on my father would help me a lot…” I said, my heart breaking...I knew my dad wasn’t there. 

“Look, I have work to do. But James said something stupid about trying to make Project Purity work…” She sighed. 

“Wait...Project Purity? Where would he have gone.” I asked, impatiently. 

“Go to the Jefferson Memorial...he may or may not still be there. He should be the one to explain everything to you. Anyways, I have work to do.” She snapped, returning to her desk. Jericho, Cody and I walked back up the stairs, and out of the door.

“Jesus...what a cunt.” I said, only loud enough for Cody and Jericho to hear. 

“She gave you a tough time, huh?” Jericho cackled. 

“Yeah...whatever.” I sighed and began walking down the hallway again, this time, my dad HAD to be there. Well...I could only hope. We made our way to the Jefferson Memorial building. Quickly, I grabbed my 10mm pistol out of my bag and held onto it tightly, seeing dead super mutants laying in our path to the memorial. “Shit… stay alert you two...we need to be sure there’s not one just waiting to attack us.” I said to Cody and Jericho, who nodded and drew their guns. We got to the door and I kicked it open. Again, dead mutants everywhere. Maybe dad was still here. We walked carefully through the hallways, taking turns peeking around corners to officially call the rooms clear. I sighed a heavy sigh of relief when we got to the rotunda, but once again, my heart sank. Dad wasn’t here. “You two...if you find anything that can lead to his whereabouts…” I trailed off, seeing an advanced-looking piece of technology with a holotape sitting on it and began walking towards it. 

“What, Bri?” Jericho asked, impatient as ever. 

“Shut the fuck up, Jericho.” I snapped.

When I reached the piece of technology, it seemed to be a console of some sort, I picked up the holotape and loaded it in my Pip-Boy. I looked at Jericho and Cody and put a finger over my lip, signaling them to be quiet as I played dad’s holotape. 

_ I’m off to Vault 112 to search for anything of Braun’s that might help me get this purifier up and running. All I know is that it’s West of some place called “Evergreen Mills” and it’s well hidden in some sort of garage. But I’ll find it, I have to. It’s so close, but that’s the story of Project Purity, isn’t it? An eternity of “almost there’s”. Let’s see if Braun has the missing puzzle piece. _

Dad. He was here. Now I know where he went. Cody and Jericho looked at the excitement on my face. “Let’s go!” I happily shouted. With that, we set out to Vault 112 to finally find my father. 

We got there within 12 hours, after fighting some raiders and killing various other creatures. “Look.” Cody said, pointing to the small garage. We officially made it. I gave Cody a tight hug, Jericho rolled his eyes at his of course, and walked towards the door with my weapon drawn. 

“Let’s do this!” I said with a big grin on my face. We busted through that door and quickly killed all the mole rats inside. “Alright, guys, let’s split up and look for this vault.” I commanded, kicking in the door to the next room. Cody followed me into the room and searched a wall, while I kind of spaced out, grabbing some scotch from my bag, taking a little drink. 

“Is now really a good time to be drinking?” Cody asked, examining a button on the wall, getting ready to push it. 

“Calms my nerves.” I said nervously. Why was I so antsy? Just then, a small door in the ground opened, Cody pushed the button I guess. 

“Hey, you two, I got this shit.” Jericho said, heading down the stairs with his weapon drawn. 

“Thanks Jericho.” I said taking another swig of my scotch, offering Cody some, which he declined. “Your loss.” I sighed, putting the cork in my bottle and putting it back in my bag. 

“All clear down here!” Jericho shouted, I could hear him kick in another door. 

Cody and I ran down the stairs, seeing a few dead mole rats with blood splattered everywhere. We went through the door Jericho kicked open and we saw it. Vault 112. We finally arrived. 


	5. Tranquility Lane

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bri enters Vault 112, a virtual reality program awaits her as well as her dad.

The, oh so familiar, screech of the Vault door opening echoed through the hallway. “Hey...I don’t know what’s ahead for me, but I have a good feeling my dad is in here. Can you two please let me go alone to find him?” I asked Cody and Jericho, who both nodded. 

“Take your time.” Jericho said, lighting up a cigarette. 

“Good luck Bri, I hope he’s really in there.” Cody said, leaning against a wall. 

“Thanks you two.” I smiled and walked into Vault 112. Quickly, I walked down the only available hallway, opening the door at the end.  

“Hello, welcome to vault 112.” A robotic voice said to me. I looked at the thing wondering what the fuck it was. It had a real brain? Later, I learned those things are called “robobrains”. “You are 202.3 years late, put on your jumpsuit and go to the nearest Tranquility Lounger, please.” It said to me. Fuck that, I’m not getting dressed in front of that thing. 

Quickly, I shuffled past it, walking down the hallway, finding an empty room. Finally I could put on the clean vault 112 jumpsuit. My thoughts shifted as I took off my boots to what I was going to say to dad when I found him. What if he wasn’t here and I’m just wasting my time chasing him all over the wasteland? I untied the arms of my jumpsuit that were around my hips and dropped my pants. 

Shit...I should have tried to stay in vault 101, maybe I could have survived the Overseer and genuinely been happy there. Quickly, I put on the new jumpsuit and my combat boots. I couldn’t lose myself in thoughts like these now, I’ve come so far. As I was walking downstairs toward the Tranquility Loungers, I stuffed my vault 101 suit in my bag and looked around for my “designated” Tranquility lounger. 

Dad was here. I saw him in one. Fuck yes. Maybe a swift throat punch and a big hug are in order for when I get him out of that thing. I plopped down in my Tranquility Lounger. “I’m coming for you, dad.” I smiled as the chair kicked back and a screen dropped down in front of my face.

I was catapulted into some sort of virtual reality program. This was actually kind of neat. I looked down at myself, I was wearing a small dress...and I guess I was a child. “Fucking really?” I muttered to myself. 

“Hey! You’re new here, aren’t you? You should go talk to Betty, she’s always looking for new kids to play with!” A grown man said to me. Why the shit was I a child? 

“Yeah...thanks…” I said, walking off to the playground, where there was a little girl watering flowers. I assumed this was Betty. 

“Oh! Someone new to play with! What luck I’ve had lately!” Betty said, turning to me. 

“Yeah...I’m looking for my father, have you seen him?” I asked her right away, I knew dad was here. 

“Gee, I don’t know, what’s he like?” She asked. 

“He looks like me...but older.” I said, getting impatient. 

“Well now! Doesn’t this change everything!” She exclaimed,  obviously surprised. “I should have suspected there was some reason behind my recent good fortune. Perhaps you’ll get to see him...in time.” Betty gloated. 

“Look, bitch. I don’t want to stay here, I just want to find my dad.” I said, I was pissed. All she did was giggled, which just pissed me off more. 

“You’re going to stay here until I tell you you’re free to go.” She said menacingly. “Oh! I know! Let’s play a game!” Betty said excitedly, doing a complete 180 in emotion. Creepy. I sighed, I had no choice, right? 

“Fine.” I sighed.  

“It's a really simple game...all you have to do is make Timmy Neusbaum cry!” Betty said happily. 

“Ha! That’s it? No problem. I’m great at making kids cry.” I said with a slight smirk on my face. 

“Excellent! I so enjoy that ‘can-do’ spirit!” She exclaimed as I walked away to look for Timmy. 

In reality, I’m not really great at making kids cry...but I figured I could take out some rage, I’m only hurting computer programmed people, right? This little place was actually incredibly cool, it was what I imagined things would have looked like before the war. 

I walked into the house that had the last name “Neusbaum” name on the mailbox, looking for things to make this as agonizing as possible, I really needed to let out some rage. Wandering throughout the house, I finally found something. A brochure for military school on the kitchen table. This was too good to pass up. 

Quickly, I snatched up the brochure and ran out the door to Timmy’s lemonade stand. “Hey, I’m Timmy! Want to play?” He said to me, excitedly. 

“Woah, hold up, Timmy. I wanted to tell you of your parents’ plot to get rid of you.” I said, holding the brochure in my hand. 

“Wha-what do you mean?” Timmy said shakily. 

“They want to send you off to military school, you must have done something really bad for them to want to get rid of you like this.” I said, trying to hold back my smirk as I handed him the brochure. 

“No...my...mommy!” He cried, running over to his parents. 

“Too easy.” I muttered to myself as I began walking over to the playground with a small devilish grin on my face. 

Betty was anxiously awaiting my return. “Haha! Did you see him crying? What a baby!” She laughed and looked at me. “You have won the game, and so you get a prize. You may ask of me one question, and I will answer it honestly.” She said with a creepy little smile on her face. 

“Fine. Where’s my fucking dad?” I said, trying not to sound too rude. 

“Well...have you met Doc the dog? He’s another new arrival, he may seem...familiar to you.” She giggled. That little bitch turned my dad into a dog. I’m done with this shit. 

“Look, I just want to get out of here with my dad...I’ve been looking for him everywhere.” I pleaded. 

“Only if you’re up for another game.” Betty smirked. 

“Fine. What is it this time?” I scoffed, folding my arms. 

“Well…” she said, her voice suddenly shifting to what sounded like the voice of a German man. “Pay a visit to the Rockwells, they’re happily married, and I’d like you to change that. Put an end to their marriage and we’ll talk.” Betty said, still in that weird German voice. 

“Uhm...okay…” I said, now creeped out, walking over to the dog. Kneeling down next to him, I pet his head, then giving him a hug. “Don’t worry dad, I’ll do whatever I have to in order to get us out of here.” I said to the dog, who let out a happy bark. No more time could be wasted here, I had a marriage to break up. 

Once again, I looked for the house with the proper last name on the mailbox. I suddenly found myself wishing the real world could be like this...working appliances, toilets, bathtubs. Everything was so clean. Shit, there was even grass. If only Amata, Cody, Jericho...Butch...if only they could see this. How much different would things have been if the bombs didn’t drop? Would the whole world have been this beautiful? 

There was no worry while I was here...no worry of raiders, mutants, disgusting mutated creatures...the only worry I had here was Betty. Which reminded me...I had a marriage to break up. I walked into the Rockwell house, admiring the interior as I began my search upstairs. To be honest, I was pretty distracted...I really wish I could have grown up in a time like this. I walked into their bedroom and noticed they each had separate beds. Something I may be able to use to my advantage. Fuck yeah.

Then, I looked at the tables between the bed. What did I find? A diary. Specifically Janet Rockwell’s diary. Her diary detailed how she thought Roger was cheating on her with a...Martha Simpson...and how she wanted to kill her for it. I smiled as I concealed the diary horribly in my dress, walking downstairs with a plan. Making sure Janet or Roger didn’t see me, I snuck into the kitchen, looking for anything I could use as a weapon. Laying on the table was a rolling pin, this should do the trick.

I left the house in a hurry to look for Martha Simpson. Honestly, I hoped this was the last thing Betty wanted me to do. At the same time though, I was willing to do anything to get my dad back. I knocked on the door of the Simpson residence and was greeted by a beautiful middle-aged woman with wavy, shoulder-length blonde hair. “Hey, miss, I needed to talk to you about something.” I said innocently.

“Sure thing! Come in, dear.” She said, smiling warmly at me. As I walked in I could feel my stomach twisting itself in knots. She may be a virtual reality program, but she was still a person, right? I couldn’t let myself think like that, my dad’s life was on the line for fuck’s sake. 

“I wanted to talk to ya about the Rockwells, miss.” I said with a slight frown, placing my hand on my rolling pin. Was I ready for this? Fuck if I know. 

“What about them, dear?” Martha said warmly. Quickly, I began beating her with the rolling pin. Over and over until I was sure she was dead. Now to put the second part of my plan in motion; tell Roger that his wife did it and offer the journal as proof. I dropped the rolling pin and ran out of the house, back towards the Rockwells. Betty better love this shit. I quickly entered the Rockwell house, placing the diary open to the page with plot to kill Martha on it, then walked into the kitchen to find Roger.

“Excuse me, sir?” I asked him.

“Yeah, what do you want, kid?” He replied. Now it was time for me to put on a little show. I immediately broke into tears, making them look as genuine as I possibly could. 

“I...I just got back from going to see Miss Simpson.” I cried, still making it look genuine. Shit. I was good at this. “S-someone killed her!”

“W-what?!” Roger shouted. “Who could have done this?”

“I...I don’t know. Wol-would you help me find out?” I cried innocently.

“Of course…” Roger said. It was actually fucking working. “Come on, let’s go look for some answers.” He said, walking to the living room with me. “Wait...what the hell is this?” He asked himself. It was the diary. “Oh...oh my god. She...she killed Martha because she was jealous? How could I be married to a monster like that?!” Roger cried, burying his face in his hands. 

“It was Janet?” I faked a gasp, it was really me. Fuck. I was a dick. 

“I...I can’t stay married to her. She’s fucking crazy!” Roger cried.

“I...I’m glad we found out who killed Martha...too bad about Janet though.” I said through my fake tears, leaving the house. What the fuck was Betty’s damage making me do shit like this? Well...she isn’t “Betty”...I kind of grasped that much by now. Slowly, I walked up to the playground, looking at the dog, then Betty. “Alright, I did it, can my dad and I leave now?” I sighed.

“Quite a clever interpretation of the rules. I’ll have to reset the system to restore Martha, but it’s well worth the effort.” Betty said in that weird german voice again, but she was clearly amused. I have to find a way out of here without hurting anyone else. This just isn’t right.

“Hey, Betty.” I said, catching her attention. “I need a little break...I’m assuming you still have other games for me.” 

“Well of course!” She giggled. “My next task for you is pretty great, so don’t take too long!” Then, she continued whistling her tune. It was weird, because it seemed to be a happy little song she was whistling. Maybe...maybe I needed that to get out of here? Fuck if I know. I walked over to dad...well...the dog, and sat next to him. 

“What am I going to do dad?” I whispered. The dog just perked up and licked my cheek. Just then, an old woman with dark skin came running towards me. 

“You! You’re not supposed to be here!” She exclaimed.

“Keep your fucking voice down.” I whispered to her. “If Betty overhears you...not speaking like all the other residents...it probably wouldn't be pleasant. But...do you know a way out of here?”

“Well…” She said as she sat down next to me. “There’s a hidden failsafe terminal in the abandoned house...I haven’t been able to figure it out though.” 

“Figure it out? Hidden? How is it hidden? If it’s computer hacking you can’t do, you have the best girl for the job right here.” I said quietly with a smirk on my face.

“No, no.” The old lady said. “There’s some sort of sequence of musical notes...I haven’t been able to figure it out yet though.” She sighed.

“Well…” I grinned, I definitely had a plan. “Thanks for the information, ma’am. I have a failsafe to crack.” I got up and began walking to the abandoned house, I had to do this. For dad. Shit, for me and all the other residents here too. They obviously didn’t have much of an existence if Betty always tortures them. I slowly opened up the door to the house and crept in. Inside, I saw a random assortment of objects; a radio, a gnome, a glass pitcher, a cinder block, and a bottle. Maybe they had something to do with the failsafe? Because there was a terminal nowhere in sight.

“Fuck.” I muttered, hitting the radio. It surprised me because it made a noise. This made me think; what if each object made a different sound? I proceeded to hit each object, and sure enough, I was right. Now how would they be arranged to make the failsafe appear? I caught myself whistling betty’s tune and it hit me; maybe that’s it. I played the little melody on the assortment of objects, and sure enough, a failsafe terminal popped up. “Alright, dad, I’m getting us out of here and taking these poor people out of their misery.” I muttered as I activated the Chinese Invasion program.

Promptly, I ran outside to see Chinese soldiers everywhere, unfortunately killing everyone. But, there was a door on the playground now. This must be the way out. 

“What have you done?! You ruined everything!” Betty shouted at me.

“Fuck you.” I shouted back, grabbing Doc the dog and running through the door before Betty could stop me. That was it. We made it. The TV screen in front of me went back up and the seat I was in sat up as well. I...I was back! Back in reality, away from that amazing...but creepy place. My Tranquility Lounger opened up and I jumped out. “Fuck yeah, I did it!” I shouted excitedly.

“What are you doing here?” My dad’s voice took me by surprise, but I could tell he was confused. 

“Looking for you, you fucking left me, dad.” I replied, slightly irritated. 

“I...I mean you were supposed to stay in the vault.” He said softly.

“Well, this is kind of a long story. But, the Overseer is a fucking nutcase...he killed Jonas and was going to kill me too if I didn’t get out of there…” I replied, he could hear the pain in my voice when I spoke about this. 

Dad gave me a big hug and said “I’m so sorry...I didn’t have any clue he would…”

“It’s okay, dad.” I said softly, hugging him back. “So where do we go now?” I asked, breaking the hug.

“Back to Rivet City, I have to tell Madison what I found out here.” He smiled. “I assume you’re coming with me?”

“Of course, dad.” I smiled, then I remembered Jericho and Cody. “Dad, we have some extra protection, by the way.” I said, smiling and walking up the stairs, my dad following behind me. 

“What do you mean?” He asked, puzzled. 

“I figured I wouldn’t have been able to get this far without some help, so I have two ex-raiders travelling with me...they’re both actually pretty great guys.” I replied, with a small smile on my face as we passed the robobrain greeter. 

“Raiders? Why would you lower yourself into travelling with people like that?” He sighed.

“Dad, they’re both good people, don’t worry about it.” I said softly as we were about to reach the Vault 112 door.

“Alright, honey. I trust your judgement. But if they try anything…” He trailed off, seeing Cody and Jericho at the door.

“Shit, man! You found your dad!” Jericho said excitedly to me.

“Hell yeah, I did!” I said, my face just beaming. “Dad, this is Jericho. Jericho, this is my dad.” Then I glanced at Cody. “Dad, Cody. Cody, dad.” Needless to say my dad was uncomfortable with this introduction, but he bore through it. For me. Dad shook both of their hands and looked at me.

“We need to get to Rivet City. Quickly. Madison needs to know that Project Purity is on again.” He said with a smile on his face. 


	6. The Waters of Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bri suffers a terrible loss after beginning to help her father with Project Purity. Shit hits the fan, basically.

There we were once again, in Rivet City. Specifically Doctor Li’s lab. We all made it safely; Cody, Dad, Jericho, and I. “I told you it would work, Madison, and now I can prove it!” Dad said as we were rushing into the lab.

“James.” She said, she seemed surprised. “You’re back!”

“And with good news.” Dad said, excitedly. “I was right about Braun and the G.E.C.K. If we can find one, we can adapt it to work with the purifiers.” I mean, I was kind of bored with this...but I figured I’d have something to do soon.

“Damn you, James.” Doctor Li sighed. “When this is all over, you owe me a drink. I’ll get the team together.” She said with a smile creeping across her face. 

“Thank you, Madison. It’s good to be working with you again.” Dad said happily, then turning to Cody, Jericho, and I. “We need to get back to Project Purity. The computer there is our best chance at locating a G.E.C.K.”

“Alright, dad.” I smiled, looking at Cody and Jericho, they were obviously ready to get moving again. “Let’s get going!”

“That’s my girl.” Dad said happily, with a smile on his face. “It will be good to work side by side with you, honey.” With that, we all headed for the Jefferson Memorial. It was a fairly silent walk, Jericho didn’t talk much around Dad and Dad didn’t talk much around Jericho. 

“They don’t seem to like each other...do they?” I whispered to Cody, we were walking pretty far ahead of Dad and Jericho. He looked at me and shook his head with a smile on his face, I honestly enjoyed how Cody and I could communicate so quietly. Jericho and I always seemed to be yelling at each other, so talking to Cody was nice. 

“Bri, slow down.” Dad said to me, we were at the door to the memorial now.

“Yeah? What is it, dad?” I asked, eager to know why he asked me to slow down. 

“There were mutants here before, I managed to kill most of them, but I’m not sure if there’s still some here. Since you have these two with you, I’d like you to go in and clear out any remaining threats.” He stated, calmly, the other scientists were arriving now.

“Sure thing, dad.” I smiled and turned to Cody and Jericho. “Let’s see if there’s any of those mutie bastards left!” I exclaimed, opening up the door to the memorial. Obviously, the mutants didn’t repopulate or anything, after all, we haven’t been here in only a day or two. “Shit, did we check the basement last time we were here?” I asked Cody.

“No...no, I don’t think so.” He said, getting his rifle out. “Now is as good of a time as any, right?” Cody said, smiling at me. I kicked in the door to the basement, figuring it would draw out anything that was down there. It was silent, creepily silent. 

“Shit…” I muttered. Cody and Jericho looked at me, confused. “I figured that noise would draw out any muta-” Suddenly I was cut off by exactly what I was hoping for. 

“I’ll wear your bones around my neck!” A mutant shouted. I slyly smiled at Cody and Jericho. My plan worked. Quickly, I pulled out my hunting rifle and aimed it down the stairs. The super mutant was running up to me and I simply shot it, killing it instantly.

“Alright…” I huffed. “There’s probably more of them, let’s split up.” I said looking at Cody and Jericho who just nodded in agreement and began searching the basement. I sat down on the top stair and doug in my bag, looking for Butch’s jacket. Why? Extra protection. I also missed him...probably more than I should. Finally, I found it and quickly put it on. Gunshots came from lower in the basement, I’m figuring Cody and Jericho found some muties. Quickly, I rushed farther downstairs, where there was a dead abomination and a dead super mutant. “Cody, Jericho!” I shouted. Before either of them could reply, I heard a chilling voice from directly behind me.

“I’m going to eat your arms when you’re dead, hooman!” Shit. This isn’t what I wanted. The super mutant grabbed my arm.

“Woah, buddy, you just made a huge mistake.” I growled, grabbing the combat knife from my boot with my free hand and stabbing it in the arm.

“Arg! Wounded!” It yelled as I pulled out my hunting rifle, aiming at its head, then slowly pulling the trigger. 

“Shit.” I panted, trying to keep a level head. That fucking thing could have ripped my damn arm off...I got too careless. I grabbed my arm where the mutant did and rubbed it. “Well that’s gonna leave a fucking bruise.” 

“Bri!” Jericho shouted. Shit, he totally saw it. “I’m proud of you, looks like you’ve learned a lot from me, huh?” He chuckled. Jericho pulled my combat knife from the mutant’s arm and handed it to me.

“Thanks, Jericho. I really thought I was fucked.” I said, accepting my knife from him. Then, he hugged me suddenly. I was shocked. He’s never hugged me before. Shit, I don’t think he’s ever hugged anyone before. 

“Hey are we done down here?” Cody asked, he looked confused as to why Jericho was hugging me. Shit, I was confused too. Jericho let go of me and glanced at Cody after flashing me a smile.

“Yeah, looks like we’re done down here.” He said. “Let’s get back to your dad, Bri.” 

“Yeah...let’s go.” I said with a smile. We walked back up the stairs and through the gift shop area, then finally back into the wasteland. All the scientists were waiting for us. “Dad.” I said softly, lighting up a cigarette.

“Are you alright? Is it safe in there?” Dad said, giving me a look of disapproval as I lit up my cigarette. 

“Yeah, dad, it’s safe in there. Jericho and Cody helped out quite a bit.” I said with a smile on my face, taking a drag from my cigarette. 

“I’m proud of you. Let’s get in there.” He said, glaring at Jericho. 

“Alright, dad, we’ll be in there in a few minutes.” I said, watching dad and the other scientists walk into the building.

“Hey, I’m going to see if they need help with anything.” Cody said softly, walking into the building. This just left Jericho and I out there alone. He walked over to me and stood next to me, taking my cigarette and throwing it out.

“What the fuck, Jerich-” I was cut off by him pressing his lips against mine softly, I didn’t fight it. It was only a matter of time before something like this happened, right? “Jericho…” I said softly, breaking the kiss.

“I...uh...couldn’t help myself. Like I said, you remind me a lot of my wife.” He sighed. I quickly cupped his face in my hands and kissed him back gently. What about Butch? Not like I was going to see him again anyways, right? Jericho pulled me close to him, pressing our bodies together and gently bit my lip.

“Shit, Jericho.” I said with a smirk on my face.

“We better get in there and see if your dad needs any help.” He said, smirking. I began walking towards the door and Jericho softly swatted my ass playfully. We both walked into the building and looked for dad in the rotunda. 

“Dad!” I shouted when Jericho and I got into the rotunda.

“Oh, hey sweetie. Can you do something for me?” Dad asked me, directing me to come up the stairs to him. Probably so I wasn’t shouting. Good move, dad.

“Yeah, dad. What is it?” I asked, walking up the rotunda stairs. 

“I need you to turn off the flood control pump in the sub-basement.” Dad said. 

“Alright, dad. You got it.” I said with a smile, grabbing Jericho by the hand and dragging him to the basement with me. As soon as we got down there, he pushed me against the wall roughly and began kissing me again. “Jericho…” I groaned softly as he also began feeling me up. Sadly, we really didn’t have time for this. “We...don’t have time...for this.” I said between kisses.

“After, you gotta promise me.” Jericho said with a smirk on his face. 

“Fuck yeah.” I said, smirking at him. We both walked down the stairs to the sub-basement. I really wanted to ask him why he suddenly want to be more than...whatever the fuck we were, friends I guess? But, I really didn’t. I walked to the flood control pump and hit the switch to shut it off. We then heard one of the intercoms going off, specifically the one right where I was. 

“Hey, honey?” It was dad.

“Yeah?” I asked through the intercom.

“I’m going to need you to come back to get some fuses, I should have just given them to you when you were up here, but it seems I forgot.” He said.

“Alright, dad, I’ll be up there in a minute.” I said, starting to walk out of the room with Jericho. “Jericho...what made you...kiss me like that?” I asked him, looking at him to see his reaction.

“Well, you’re hot as fuck. Why wouldn’t I wanna?” Jericho said with a smirk on his face, he could probably see me blushing like an idiot. “Look, you’re a good kid. Granted, you’re half my age. But...even guys like me need good girls in their life.” He said, surprisingly holding the door to the first floor open for me. 

“Thanks, Jericho.” I said, smiling at him. Jericho and I hurried to the rotunda, I bolted up the stairs, but Jericho stayed by the door.

“I heard you disarmed the bomb in Megaton, is that true?” Dad asked me with a smile on his face.

“Of course, I actually got a house there for it. Lucas Simms is a pretty cool guy.” I said, smiling back at him. 

“I’m so proud of you, honey.” Dad said, giving me a big hug. “It seems like you’ve done good for yourself out here...even if you’re running with ex-raiders.” He said, glaring at Jericho. 

“Dad, they’re good people. They’re not like that anymore.” I said, looking around. “Where’s Cody?” I asked after I didn’t see him anywhere. 

“Ah, I have him on standby to boot up the mainframe after you replace those fuses.” Dad said, reaching in his pocket, searching, and finally pulling out the fuses, handing them to me. “Hurry up.” He said with a smile.

“I will, dad.” I said, rushing back down the stairs. “Let’s get this over with, Jericho.” 

“Yeah, yeah.” He replied, following close behind me as I led the way back to the sub-basement. I made quick work of replacing the fuses and we made our way to the room where Cody was waiting.

“Hey, the fuses are replaced.” I called to Cody. “Time to boot that bitch up.”

“You got it.” Cody said, flipping the switch to boot up the mainframe. Suddenly, the intercom buzzed, once again, it was dad.

“Hey honey? There seems to be a blockage in one of the intake pipes, I need you to clear it immediately, it’s important.” Dad said calmly over the intercom.

“Sure thing, dad.” I replied, then looked at Cody and Jericho. “You two should stay down here until I get back, get some rest. I appreciate all you two are doing to help. They both simply nodded and I headed upstairs to unblock this pipe, maybe then Jericho and I could have our...alone time we were hoping for. I rushed to the pipe, dropping myself down it. Don’t worry, it was definitely big enough for a person to move around comfortably. 

Quickly, I made my way through the pipe until I found a little control panel, which I assumed was how I unblock the drain. I sighed as I looked outside of the broken pipe-like corridor I was in and looked at the clouds for a second. Glancing back at the control panel, I hit the only button on there, draining the intake pipes. “Fuck yeah.” I said, waiting for the door to unlock. Suddenly, I saw a weird helicopter thing. “What the fuck?” I whispered to myself, trying to get out of site. 

“Good job, honey. Now..” Dad said over the intercom. “The enclave? What are they doing here...They’re where? Madison! Lock that door!” He sounded panicked...who the fuck was the Enclave? All I knew is I had to get my ass back in there as quickly as possible. I flung the gate open and dropped myself down the drain. Gunshots. I heard gunshots. Fuck. I guess these Enclave guys are assholes. 

I dropped out of my drain in the sub-basement, right into a pool of fucking water. “Shit!” I shouted. “Now I need to change my fucking clothes…”

“Well, I wouldn’t mind seeing that.” Jericho said. I looked up and he was leaning over the balcony railing.

“Now really isn’t the time for this, Jericho. We have company. We need to get to my dad. NOW.” I yelled, I was a bit shaken up for obvious reasons.

“Yeah, those Enclave pricks. Seriously, Jericho, we need to get going. Bri, you don’t have time to change, just get the fuck up here.” Cody shouted down to me. I’ve never heard him use that kind of language before...he probably knows more about the Enclave than I do. They must be a pretty fucking big one for Cody to be talking like that. I quickly got out of this pool, my clothes were drenched, but I sprinted up the stairs and headed upstairs with Cody and Jericho. 

“Okay...I don’t know what’s behind these doors, we need to be careful.” I whispered to Cody and Jericho, who simply nodded in acknowledgment. I pulled out my pistol and slowly opened the door. We started taking fire immediately and Jericho handed me a new weapon and the ammo for it.

“Here, I got this from that Enclave fuck. Let’s fuck these guys up.” Jericho said, kissing me softly on the cheek before leaving the cover we had behind the door. Quickly, I loaded the weapon. It had to be powerful, right? Come to think of it, I’ve never used an energy weapon before. But, I’ve heard laser is better than plasma, so I couldn’t complain. By the time I had my wits about me, Jericho and Cody had killed all three of the Enclave soldiers in the room. 

“We...we have to get to my dad.” I snapped, running through the door to the rotunda, Cody and Jericho following close behind. Quickly, I sprinted up the rotunda stairs and punched the glass my dad was behind...along with a scientist, dead, appearing to have been shot, and a few Enclave men. “Dad!” I yelled, beating my fists on the glass as he was fucking around with the console. “Don’t give this fuckstick a goddamn thing!” Fighting back tears, I looked at Doctor Li. 

“Just...give me a second to get this thing online…” Dad said to the man in the stupid coat. Actually, it wasn’t a bad coat, I saw Cody eyeballing it too. Suddenly there was an explosion of radiation in the room and I saw the coat guy take something out and shoot it up.

“Dad!” I screamed, beating my fists on the glass harder. “Fucking do something, Doctor Li! Please!” I screamed, tears now streaming down my face. My dad was crawling towards the door. “Fucking do something, please!” I shouted at her.

“Run….RUN!” My dad gasped. Those were his last words...he died right then and there but I absolutely refused to believe it. He couldn’t be gone. I looked at Doctor Li, who was just shaking her head.

“Bri, we need to go.” She said in her usual bitchy tone.

“I’m not fucking leaving my dad in there!” I shouted at her.

“There...there’s nothing we can do. If I open up that door you’ll just die the same way. Now if you don’t mind, we NEED to get out of here NOW.” She was right. I hated to admit it...or even think about it. He was the whole reason I was out here...now he’s gone. Tears were streaming down my face and I absolutely refused to move.

“Bri, we hafta go!” Jericho scoffed, picking me up. I was numb. I didn’t know how to feel. Doctor Li and Cody began running for the door and Jericho sprinted with me on his back. My dad was...gone…

“Jericho! Put me down!” I screamed, finally processing what was happening. 

“Sorry, I’m not doin’ that.” Jericho snapped back.

“Here...this is probably the only way out of here, I can’t guarantee it’s safe, but it has to be safer than the outside.” Madison said, climbing down a ladder in the gift shop area. Suddenly, Jericho put me down.

“You first.” He commanded. Her knew the situation was bad, I did too. We just didn’t know how much worse things could get. 

“Fine.” I said, climbing down the ladder, looking up at Jericho and Cody. I...wasn’t sure if I got off normally or fell off and looked around. There was Doctor Li and three other men, I wasn’t interested in learning names. “You...all….” I trailed off, seeing Jericho come down the ladder. “Follow these two...I….I’ll try to clear the way if I can.”

“What are you doing?” Doctor Li yelled at me as I ran off, leaving them with Cody and Jericho. I couldn’t deal with everything right now. Suddenly, three feral ghouls popped out at me and began chasing me. I raised my laser rifle at one of them, disintegrating it. The other two were closing in on me, so I had to back up. My weapon was pointed at the other ghoul, and I fired as I tripped over myself.  

“Shit!” I shouted as the last ghoul closed in on me, scratching my cheek before I was finally able to shoot it. At that moment, I lost it. I sat there and cried like a child, shit went sideways in the most colossal way back there...I just hope that...that...fucking cockflap died in there. He took my dad from me. I won’t rest until I kill every last one of those bastards. 

“Bri!” Cody shouted, running towards me as I was digging in my bag. “Are you...are you okay?” He asked as I pulled a Med-X out of my bag.

“Yeah, I’m just fucking dandy.” I scoffed, sticking the Med-X needle in my arm. “I just saw my fucking dad die and a ghoul ruined my beautiful face, so yeah, I’m just fucking fine.” I snapped, shooting that sweet, sweet Med-X into my veins. Now, I may have been the doc’s kid, but it didn’t mean I knew how...amazing...certain chems felt. For example, Med-X helps...numb you...mind, body, and soul. Right now, I was loving it and I wanted to feel this way for as long as possible. I really only took it to combat the pain from the ghoul strike I took...but damn.

“Bri...I’m...I’m sorry about your dad…” Cody said softly, walking over to me to help me up off the ground. 

“It’s...fine.” I sighed. “We need to get out of here…”

“Jericho, Doctor Li, and the others are making their way over here, let’s wait for them, okay?” He said, helping me back to my feet.

“Alright…” I trailed off, seeing Jericho walking a little bit ahead of Doctor Li and the others. “They’re here, let’s move.” I told Cody, walking slowly allowing the others to catch up with us. 

“Bri, what the fuck?” Jericho asked me. “Don’t run off like that, you’re gonna get yourself killed.” He said, Jericho actually seemed concerned about me...maybe he could help me through this.

“I...I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.” I said with a broken smile on my face. We continued our way through the Taft Tunnels, coming across a few more ghouls. “Hey, hold on, I want to look in this room for any medical supplies, we may need them.” I said, walking into a room that looked like it was once a doctor’s office.

“Take your time, Cody and I will scout ahead.” Jericho said to me, turning and walking away with Cody. I simply nodded and rummaged through desk drawers and a First-Aid kit. Fucking jackpot. I found two stimpacks and a few Med-X.

“Alright, Doctor Li, let’s get going.” I said, whipping out my laser rifle. There...was gunfire and my heart dropped.

“Bri!” Cody shouted, coming from a different room...not where the gunfire was. 

“Have...have you seen Jericho?” I said numbly as I heard the gunfire stop. Cody simply smiled. 

“He probably found some more ghouls, don’t worry. He’s a strong guy, I’m sure he’s fine.” Cody said reassuringly. We walked farther down the hall where there was a locked door. As I walked past the door, I was shot at by a laser rifle...at that moment I knew. Tears welled up in my eyes, stinging my face as they streamed down.

“Cody, give me some cover fire...don’t let them hit me…” I mumbled.

“Wait, Jericho should be here any min-”

“Cody...Jericho...Jericho isn’t coming…” I said numbly, pointing into the room where a man in raider armor was dead on the floor, there was blood everywhere. This was my fault. I didn’t put up a fight when he said him and Cody were scouting ahead. “Cover fire. Now. I’m getting him out of there.” I snapped, then sat there and thought for a second.

“What, Bri?” Cody asked, I could tell he was fighting tears...that was his best friend...and he was dead.

“I’ll provide you cover fire, you get Jericho out of there. I...I have a way for us to get rid of these fucking Enclave bastards.” I grumbled. Cody didn’t hesitate and he got Jericho out of there quickly. I obviously provided some pretty great cover fire. Then, Cody was safely out of the room, along with Jericho’s lifeless body. Without hesitations, I pulled out my Fat Man and loaded it with a mini-nuke, quickly firing it into the room littered with Enclave scum. 

My mini-nuke obviously killed them all and I just...dropped my weapon. I didn’t know how to feel...I lost my dad and a man I would have liked to be with. Cody lost his best friend. Doctor Li lost a brilliant mind and co-worker. This situation was so fucked. I numbly lead the group through the rest of the tunnels, killing ghouls whenever I saw them. Before I knew it, we were at the ladder to exit. We each went up...when I got on the surface, I pulled out a bottle of whiskey. 

“Do you really think now is a good time for that?” Doctor Li snapped at me as I took a gulp from the bottle.

“Fuck you.” I snapped. “I just lost two of the three people that I actually fucking cared about out here back there. Don’t lecture me on when is the proper time to drink.” She just sighed and started walking towards the giant hunk of metal with...Brotherhood of Steel men around it? Is this their hideout? “Doctor…” I shouted, looking at Cody...we had to bury Jericho. “We...we have something to take care of...we’ll meet you in there.” She just nodded and continued walking. 

Cody and I buried Jericho right by the tunnel entrance...it was a very quiet moment. No words were shared. Just...silence...until I lost myself. I fell apart right there. I didn’t know how I’d deal with myself...but at least I still had Cody. What would I do if I lost him too? Probably just fucking kill myself. I couldn’t stand the thought of being alone again. Cody kneeled down next to me and put his arm around my shoulder as I was sitting there bawling my fucking eyes out. We never went into the Citadel...instead I convinced him to head back to Megaton with me so I could at least get shitfaced in the comfort of my own home.


	7. Trouble On the Homefront

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bri returns to Vault 101. She also has some surprise romance.

I found myself in a downward spiral, and I was going down fast. Cody and I reached Megaton, by then I was all out of whiskey and almost out of all the other forms of alcohol I was carrying with me. We headed straight for Moriarty’s, I really needed a drink. Don’t judge me, I was all out of my drink of choice. You’d drink this much too if you lost almost everyone you cared about.

“Gob, my good man.” I said drunkenly, gulping down my last bottle of vodka.

“Good to see you again, what can I get for you?” Gob said to me with a smile as he was cleaning off a glass.

“Give me all the fucking whiskey you have. I have some emotions to get rid of.” I sighed.

“Alright, we have 15 bottles, which would be 225 caps.” He said, shocked anyone would throw practically all their caps down the drain for some booze. Shit, I was willing to do anything to get rid of these feelings. I tossed the caps on the counter and he handed me the bottles of whiskey one by one as I put them in my bag.

“Thanks Gob, you’re the best.” I said as I was getting off of my bar stool, partially falling over. Cody quickly helped me get straightened out and back on my feet. “Thanks, man.” I sighed. “Let’s go clear out the Brass Lantern’s supply of whiskey too.” I giggled. At the time, I was too wrapped up on getting as fucked up as I possibly could and didn’t notice the Vault 101 distress signal on my Pip-Boy.

“Bri, do we really need to?” Cody asked, obviously he was getting annoyed with me.

“Yes. We do.” I snapped, stumbling out of the saloon door, lighting up a cigarette.

“Why are you doing this to yourself? Your dad and Jericho...they wouldn’t want this for you.” Cody sighed.

“People have different ways of coping with things. This is mine.” I snapped, picking up my pace. We were almost at the outdoor bar.

“Bri, you’re not coping. You’re fucking destroying yourself.” Cody scoffed, taking a seat at the bar.

“You, woman. All the whiskey you have.” I said, slamming some caps on the counter.

“Yeah, we have 5 bottles, each 20 caps. So a total of 100. Hey, weren’t you the ones traveling with Jericho?” Her name was Jenny, Jenny Stahl. Word around town was Jericho attempted to rape her before he decided to change his ways. So, I was surprised she would ask.

“Yeah, we were.” I sighed, giving her the caps for my precious whiskey.

“Hope that bastard got what he deserved, seeing as to how he’s not here with you.” She said with a slight sigh of relief. I lost it.

“Listen here, you little bitch!” I shouted, jumping over the bar and pushing her against the wall. “Don’t you…” I said, pulling my knife out of my boot, then holding it up to her throat. “EVER. Say shit like that again. Got it?” She had the look of pure panic in her eyes.

“Bri! Knock it off! This is NOT how you deal with things like this. What would your fucking dad say?” Cody snapped as he pulled me off of Jenny. I dropped my knife and grabbed my whiskey. Fuck this shit, I’m out. Cody picked up my knife, apologizing to Jenny, and quickly followed me back to my house. As I opened up the door, I glanced at my Pip-Boy and saw the signal. Fuck. Might as well give it a listen, right? I selected the station on my Pip-Boy and heard this;

_It feels like you left home a long time ago, but I know you’re still out there. I just hope you’re still alive to hear this. Things got worse after you left. My father has gone mad with power. If you can hear this, please stop looking for your dad and help stop mine. I changed the door password to my name. If you’re hearing this, and you still care enough to help me, you should remember it._

Of course I’d remember it...Amata. The vault can’t have a drunken hero though. I plopped down on my mattress in the middle of my room and slept it off. Right away when I woke up, I left, leaving Cody a note that I had something I needed to take care of...I’m sure he understood. I sprinted towards the vault, not leaving behind my Med-X or whiskey of course. They were my coping mechanisms, right? Finally I reached it. The vault door was right in front of me. I entered Amata’s name into the console, opening up the vault door.

I was wearing the armor I took off of the raider woman previously, I believe it was the “Raider Paingiver” armor, and shit, was it skimpy. It was basically a glorified leather bra and skin tight leather pants. I opted to wear Butch’s jacket over it, or else I would have felt...weird. I waltzed through the vault door and opened the door from the main entrance.

“Look, I don’t know who you are or how you got in here...wait...it’s you!” Officer Gomez said, focusing on Butch’s jacket. “I didn’t recognize you with all that dust all over you.

“Good to see you, Gomez.” I said with a faint smile on my face, then looking down at my jacket. “Yeah, the wastes tend to do that to people.” I softly giggled. “But, I got Amata’s signal. What’s going on down here?”

“Well...after you and your dad left, a lot of people started thinking you had the right idea. But the Overseer won’t let anyone out.” Gomez said, suddenly sounding nervous. “I’m afraid it will escalate into violence again.”

“So, the Overseer is still a complete fucking nutcase? Where’s Amata?” I asked, simply, coldly almost.

“In your dad’s old clinic.” Gomez said, looking a me. He seemed concerned. “Be safe, okay?” All I could do in response was laugh.

“Trust me, I’ll be fine. This will be a cakewalk compared to most of the shit I’ve been through in the wastes.” I sighed. “I always liked you, Gomez.” I said softly as I pulled a bottle of whiskey out of my bag before walking to the atrium.

“Wait! When you get back out there, can you tell your father I-”

“My dad is dead.” I skulked, popping the cork in my whiskey bottle.

“I...I’m sorry to hear that.” Gomes said sadly. “He was a great man.”

“Thanks, Gomez…” I trailed off and took a gulp from my bottle of whiskey. “Well, don’t you worry. All this will be over with soon. Hopefully without violence.” I sighed and began walking down to the atrium. As I got down there, I took a small swig of my whiskey, watching the scene playing out before me. Freddie fucking Gomez...he was always cute, honestly. I guess he was a tunnel snake now though...which hopefully meant Butch was still around.

“Look, man.” Freddie yelled to Officier Taylor, who was right in front of me. “You can’t keep us locked up down here, y’know?”

“P-please! Get back! I don’t want to have to shoot you, Freddie!” Officer Taylor shouted to Freddie, aiming his pistol directly at him.

“You can’t cage us because...because Tunnel Snakes rule!” Freddie shouted back, this actually made me chuckle. It just sounded...silly. Just then, Officer Taylor shot at Freddie. “What the fuck?! Cheese it!”

“I swear I didn’t mean to shoot at him.” Officer Taylor said, looking at me. Almost as if he was looking for reassurance.

“Whatever…” I shrugged, walking right past him, going straight for the cafeteria. When I got there...I saw Ellen DeLoria, Butch’s mom.

“You? What the hell are you doing here?” Ellen scoffed at me as she drank her vodka.

“I’m here to help Amata.” I sighed, taking a gulp of my whiskey. This bitch. She gave me a dirty look, and I simply clenched my fist and walked away, proceeding down the hallway outside the cafeteria.

“Hey! You...holy shit. It’s you!” I heard the oh-so-familiar voice of who other than Butch DeLoria. The man I’ve been thinking about since I left the vault. “Bri.” He said with a smirk as he ran over to hug me. Butch held me tightly in his arms and I just remained silent, trying so hard not to break down. Suddenly, I just lost complete control of myself.

“Butch...you have no idea...how…” I began crying. Shit. “How happy I am to see you again.” I continued crying, almost dropping my whiskey.

“Woah, woah. You’re happy to see me?” He questioned, holding me tighter as I was getting my tears all over his new jacket. I simply nodded as I continued crying. “Bri…” He said softly, picking me up like a little princess and  began walking me back to the residential area of the vault.

“Butch, what the fuck?” I asked, burying my face into his shoulder, tears still streaming down my face.

“You’re obviously in no condition to see Amata right now. I’ll help ya relax, maybe talk through a few things with ya. Seems like you need someone to talk to.” He sighed, glancing down at me. “Look, I know I gave ya a rough time when we were growing up...but I’ve changed a little. I think.” He said with a small grin on his face. Then he opened up the vault door to my old quarters, and sat me down on the couch.

“It’s...okay, Butch.” I sighed, taking a large gulp of my whiskey, the bottle was almost empty already. Shit. “I’ve kind of...let go of everything that happened before I left.”

“Really?” He asked, glancing down at my bottle of whiskey. “Look, you gotta get me out of here.” Butch pleaded to me, I was honestly surprised to hear it.

“W-what?” I asked, he could clearly see the surprise in my eyes.

“Yeah, look. I know I’ve always been a jerk...but you’re kind of a jerk too sometimes, yet you make things work out there, judging by the way ya look.” He said to me, scooting a little closer to me on the couch, then he looked me in the eyes. “Bri...I...I can’t stay down here anymore. I’m gonna go fuckin’ nuts. Mainly because you’re not here.”

“Wait, what?” My eyes widened and my voice cracked a little bit. “You...you miss me, huh?” I said, smiling half-heartedly.

“Yeah...quite a bit.” He said, grabbing my free hand. “Look, Bri. I really think I fucked up with you. I shouldn’t have been such a dick before, ya know?” Butch said, with a small smile on his face.

“Butch...I…” I blushed,slightly leaning into him. He knew exactly what I wanted.

“Bri, shut up.” He said with a smile, pulling me in for a kiss. This was something I’ve only dreamt about...for a long time. Now, I finally had him, everything I wanted. But, I broke away from the kiss. “What? Did I do something wrong?” He asked, definitely full of disappointment.

“Butch...I...really like you but...I’m dealing with a lot right now.” I sighed.

“I can help you through whatever it is.” Butch said eagerly. “I...I’ll always be here for you.” He said, unzipping my jacket.

“Butch...I couldn’t lose you...I’ve already lost a lot out there.” I sighed, letting him unzip my jacket.

“Don’t worry, baby. You won’t get rid of me so easily.” He smirked, leaning closer to me. “Did I mention how fuckin’ amazing you look in my jacket?” Butch whispered in my ear, sliding one of his hands down to my waist.

“Y-you think I look good?” I stuttered, drinking the rest on the whiskey and tossing the bottle aside. His lips pressed against mine once again softly.

“Fuck yeah, I think you do, Bri. You’re fuckin’ perfect.” Butch whispered, his lips still pressed against mine. Maybe he could fill the void I felt inside me since losing Dad and Jericho. I bit his lip softly, looking directly into his pale blue eyes. He looked surprised that I bit him, but it definitely lit a fire in his eyes. Quickly, he plunged his hand in my pants. I think he was having a difficult time, they were skin-tight, after all.

“Butch, wait.” I giggled, undoing my pants so he would have an easier time.

“Are….are ya sure ya wanna do this?” He asked me, biting his lip. Fuck. He looked so damn hot when he did that.

“Of course.” I whispered as he moved his hand between my thighs. Butch seemed nervous, I’m not really sure why though. Did I seem suddenly intimidating? Maybe I was just calm because of the whiskey. This was...everything I’ve ever wanted. To be close to Butch.

“Bri...maybe a couch isn’t the best place for this.” He said with a smirk, taking his hand out of my pants, sitting up straight.

“What do you mean?” I said, straightening myself out, looking at him. He simply got up and smirked at me, then picked  me up like a princess. Just like earlier. Butch began walking to my bedroom with me, softly kissing my lips.

“This is what I mean, baby.” He said softly, setting me on the bed. Butch took my shoes off for me and slid my pants down. Holy fuck, this was happening. “You have no idea how long I’ve been dreaming about doing this.” He said, slightly blushing. Wait, did he actually...like me?

“What do you mean? I asked, blushing heavily. My heart was racing as he laid down next to me. He softly touched my cheek and smirked.

“I’ve been wanting to...ya know...get you alone like this, stupid.” Butch scowled, he obviously wasn’t the smoothest with words. But, I fell for every bit of it. He was a bit rough around the edges, but I loved it. Before I could lose myself any farther in my thoughts, I felt him dart his hand into my panties, resting it between my legs.

“Yeah? You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to get YOU alone like this.” I said, smirking and lightly biting my lip. When he saw me biting my lip, he slid two of his fingers inside me. “Oh, Butch.” I moaned lightly, gazing into his eyes as he moved his fingers in and out of me. He had that sexy smug grin on his face. Shit. This was my first time.

“Ya like this, huh?” He asked softly.

“Butch...just shut up and get undressed.” I barked, sliding my panties down.

“What, ya wanna see a real tunnel snake?” Butch smirked. That was it. I needed this man to do unspeakable things to me. Quickly, I  unzipped his jacket, kissing him roughly, then I sat up.

“Take my shirt off.” I commanded, glaring at him. He bit his lip and obeyed me without question. Butch was definitely eager to get me naked.

“Shit, I shouldn’t be taking commands from you.” Butch sighed, groping one of my exposed breasts, then kissing me roughly, biting my lip roughly as well. I have to admit, this turned me on quite a bit. As he was kissing me, he moved his hand from my breast and removed his jacket, tossing it on the floor. Suddenly, he got up and stripped down. Fuck, he was hot. He unzipped his vault-suit teasingly, then quickly discarded his shirt and underwear.

Let me tell you, this man was packin’ some heat. He climbed back into bed next to me and kissed me roughly. Butch grabbed a hold of me, rolling me on top of him and smirking. I wasn’t experienced at all...and judging by his expression he wasn’t either. He looked incredibly nervous as I grinded my wet nether-regions against his stiff cock. I accidentally slipped and his dick went inside me roughly, causing me to let out a loud moan.

“Shit, Bri.” Butch moaned softly. “You’re so fuckin’ tight.” He moaned as he began roughly fucking me, reaching up to grab my boobs.

“Oh, Butch!” I moaned loudly, getting close to reaching an orgasm already. He was close too, I could tell by the look on his face.

“Bri.” He moaned, smacking my ass gently. Maybe signaling for me to get off of him, but no fucking way. This felt too good. We both let out loud moans as we came. It was quick, but amazing. I rolled off of him, laying down on my back. “Shit.” Butch said softly. “I wouldn’t have wanted my first time to be with anyone else.” He said, laying on his side, wrapping his arms around my waist.

“That was your first time too?” I asked softly, kissing his forehead lightly.

“Well...yeah.” He replied quickly. “Bri...please don’t leave me again.” Butch said, hugging me tightly. I never thought I meant this much to him. Was he only doing this because we slept together? Or did he genuinely have feelings for me?

“Butch…” I sighed. “I...can’t make any promises.” I said blankly while I sat up.

“What do you mean? You’d fuckin’ leave me without saying goodbye again?” Butch snapped, he sat up as well.

“I....I’d say goodbye at least.” I sighed, looking for my bag, I needed my Med-X, dammit. Yes, I found it.

“You fuckin’ better this time.” He scoffed. “Do ya have any idea how much it fucked with me that you said goodbye to that bitch, Amata, and not me?”

“Butch...Amata was my best friend, you were kind of a jerkoff.” I snapped, taking one needle of Med-X out of my bag, then sitting down next to Butch again. “Look, I’ve always had a thing for you, you know that, right?” I sighed.

“Yeah, which is why I’m fuckin’ pissed I couldn’t even get a goodbye from ya. I mean, I may have been a dick to ya, but I gave you my jacket, which had to mean somethin’, right?” He sighed, laying back down, watching me fiddle with the Med-X as he was talking to me. “What is that shit anyways?” Butch asked, looking directly at the Med-X.

“Huh? This?” I asked, holding the needle close to my arm. “It...helps me forget about things.” I sighed, injecting this wonderdrug into my veins. I tossed the needle across the room and laid down next to Butch, who was looking at me uneasily. “Hold me, will ya?”

“Sure thing, baby.” He sighed, wrapping me in his arms. “Don’t destroy yourself, Bri. I’m sure ya had some rough shit happen to you out there, but that shit ain’t the way to deal with it.” He whispered against my neck. If I could change my ways for anyone...it would be this man. But, I’m afraid I couldn’t let that happen yet. As soon as I was sure he was asleep, I crept out of bed and grabbed my stuff. I...didn’t want him to see me go again.

“I’m sorry, Butch.” I whispered softly as I exited the room, getting dressed next to my couch. Then, I headed out to find Amata...and some sort of birth control from my dad’s old office. There had to be something in there for this type of stuff, right? I wandered in a daze towards the old doctor’s office, thinking about what just happened with Butch. What kind of bitch am I to just...leave him? The sex sure as hell didn’t fill that void inside me...but Butch did when I was with him.

“Oh my goodness! It’s you! You got the signal!” Amata said happily. Shit, I guess I already wandered my way to the clinic.

“Yeah...uh what happened down here?” I asked quietly.

“Well...a lot actually.” Amata paused for a second, noticing I was wearing Butch’s jacket. She was at least nice enough not to say anything about it. “My dad’s gone insane! He wants to keep us all trapped down here and even worse; I found out he killed Jonas just to protect a lie! The vault hasn’t always been closed.” She explained.

“Yeah...a lot of people actually knew my dad and I out there. It...was odd. But...don’t worry. I’ll put a stop to this.” I said quietly, once again.

“Please don’t hurt him.” Amata pleaded with me as I turned back to the door. “He may be insane, but he’s still my fathe-”

“I can’t make any promises, Amata.” I barked as I started walking away, looking for this fucking asshole. He killed Jonas. He had his daughter beaten, for fuck’s sake. Who knows how many other people he killed to protect that fucking lie? I was strung out and fucking pissed. Definitely no promises of peace for me.

“Oh, look who came crawling back to the vault? Like a child missing curfew.” The Overseer cackled.

“Look, I have a bit of a short fuse today. Don’t play games with me, dickwad.” I snapped.

“What, was the wasteland to scary for you and dear old dad?” He cackled once again.

“You know what? Fuck you!” I shouted, pinning him up against the window in his little office. “You don’t know SHIT about my dad and what he went through out there. You don’t know shit about what I’ve been through out there.” I  yelled, tears beginning to pour down my face. “You’ll never know what things are like out there, you fucking cockmunch!” I screamed, pulling the knife I now had sheathed in my back pocket.

“What are you going to do? Kill your best friend’s fath-” He grinned, but he was cut off (no pun intended) by the blade of my knife quickly entering and leaving his stomach.

“Fuck you, overseer.” I yelled, cleaning off my knife. I sprinted back to my dad’s old office, sheathing my knife. Fuck. What was I going to tell Amata? Finally, I reached my destination...and was greeted by an optimistic Amata. Until she saw the blood on me. Yes, you can see blood on black clothes. It’s just difficult to.

“Bri...did you…?” Amata asked, her voice shaking a bit.

“I did what had to be done.” I snapped, waltzing into the clinic, rummaging through desk drawers, filing cabinets, and first-aid boxes.

“I see…” She trailed off, watching me grab things from the areas I was searching. “Well...a lot of people have been talking and they’ve said I should be the new Overseer.” I found exactly what I was looking for, chems and other things.

“That’s great, Amata.” I sighed, I had a bad feeling about what was coming next.

“Bri...you’re a hero to this vault. You’ve done a lot for us. But...I’m afraid you have to leave.” She said, tears welling up in her eyes.

“Yeah...it’s fine.” I sighed. “I figured as much. I’ll...see you around.” I trailed off, walking away. Quickly, I walked through the cafeteria and up through the atrium. Then, I walked towards the entrance. I needed to leave this place behind...even if it meant leaving Butch behind. As I reached the entrance I heard a familiar voice.

“You weren’t just gonna leave me without saying goodbye again, were ya?” Butch asked. He was leaning up against the vault door control panel, smoking a cigarette.

“Butch...I…” I couldn’t find the words to say to him...I was just going to leave him again because I’m no good with goodbyes.

“Look, Bri.” He said, throwing his cigarette out and walking over to me, placing his hands on my shoulders. “You’re not leaving here unless you bring me with ya, you don't just fuck someone and leave them like that.” Butch was looking directly into my eyes, I knew he saw the pain behind them. “I...I don’t know what’s happened to ya out there...but you ain’t yourself...I want to help ya work through whatever it is though.”

“Butch...I need you to come with me.” I whispered, hugging him tightly as my eyes began to water. He simply held me close to him. “Please...don’t die on me.” I sobbed.

“Bri...you won’t get rid of me that easily.” He whispered with a smile on his face, pulling me in closer to him. “Let’s get goin’.” Butch said, letting go of me but softly holding my hand.

“I have a house in Megaton.” I said softly, leading him out of the vault.

“You’ve done pretty good for yourself out there then, huh?” He asked, glancing down at me.

“I suppose so…” I trailed off. We talked the whole way back to Megaton...it was nice to open up with him like this. By the time we made it back to my house, it was already night time. We simply waltzed in and snuggled up together on my mattress in the middle of the room. I had it planned that we were going back to the Citadel tomorrow, we needed to get a move on with Project Purity, for dad.


End file.
